Greene man piles up penalties for garage 3-year battle continues over zoning, fines

GREENE – A Greene man’s fines for an illegal garage have reached $35,000 – and they keep growing.

Paul Chabot said he plans to continue his three-year battle with the town that has gone to court three times. He said he has begun a petition drive to force the town to hold a special town meeting to ask residents to forgive his debt.

At a special meeting in May, residents voted to forgive the debt. But the Board of Selectmen refused to recognize the vote, and a judge last month dismissed a lawsuit by Chabot asking that the town be ordered to honor the vote.

Chabot’s problems began in 1999 when he got a building permit from the town and built a three-bay garage to store equipment for his construction business.

Chabot’s attorney, Curtis Webber, said the town’s code enforcement officer then notified Chabot that he was violating a town ordinance because he needed a special permit from the Planning Board to operate a business in a residential zone.

The town began charging him $25 a day until he complied with the zoning rules.

Three years and three court rulings later, Chabot still hasn’t paid the town. And he isn’t ready to give up, Webber said.

The matter made its way to court last year when the town sued Chabot for the money. Superior Court Justice Ellen Gorman ordered Chabot to stop commercial activity in the garage and to pay the fine and the town’s attorney costs.

Chabot appealed Gorman’s ruling to the Maine Supreme Judicial Court, which rejected his argument. That’s when Chabot collected 150 signatures asking the Board of Selectmen to hold a special town meeting asking voters if they would forgive him his debt.

But selectmen refused, insisting that a town meeting be held only if it is in the best interest of the public, not a lone individual. Chabot then took a rarely used procedure of getting a notary public to hold a special meeting.

In May, 37 people showed up at the Grange Hall and voted unanimously to forgive Chabot’s debt. When selectmen refused to honor the vote, Chabot filed a lawsuit against the town.

Gorman last month dismissed the suit, ruling that Chabot didn’t follow the proper procedures. She ruled that even though Chabot collected 150 signatures asking selectmen to hold a special town meeting, he didn’t collect signatures requesting a special meeting before a notary public.

While Chabot collects signatures calling for another special town meeting, Town Manager Stephen Eldridge said Chabot’s fines will continue to mount each day he violates zoning rules.