ST. ALBANS – Gary Jordan, who has maintained for years that the town took his land illegally through the eminent domain process, has sued the town again. Most residents have lost track – is this the fifth or sixth lawsuit filed by Jordan? – but Jordan maintains that he will continue to fight to right what he believes is a basic wrong.

In the 26-page lawsuit, served on the town last Friday, Jordan maintains misconduct by the town of St. Albans, and asks for the land to be returned as well as compensation for attorney’s fees.

“They took my land illegally and I will fight this forever,” Jordan said this week. “What they did was just not right. If they can do it to me, they can do it to anyone else in St. Albans.”

Monday night, the St. Albans selectmen went into executive session with local Attorney Michael Wiers to discuss the suit, despite objections by a Bangor Daily News reporter and others that Wiers could not represent them in the executive session since he was a party to the lawsuit.

Chairman of the board Marian Spalding said the board had no knowledge that Wiers was part of the suit, despite its being served four days earlier, and would determine that for themselves while in executive session.

Jordan’s evidence of wrongdoing includes a letter from Wiers to the town in 1999 in which he outlines his opinion on the eminent domain issue. The letter is part of the suit.

After 15 minutes, the board resumed its regular session and immediately voted to obtain legal counsel to deal with the suit.

Jordan has steadfastly maintained that his Town Landing Road property was taken as part of a conspiracy to provide access to a private subdivision but that voters were told it was needed to provide access to the town’s boat landing.

The suit said the land taken went far beyond just the roadway to include land on the west side of the road owned by Jordan and land on the east side, including a raft of utility poles on Jordan’s lawn.

“One must ask why would recreational boaters using Town Landing Road to get to the lake need to have access to a utility pole…” the suit questions.

“Clearly the primary use of the seized property to benefit a private subdivision is at absolute odds with the required use of a public benefit mandated by Maine’s eminent domain statute,” Attorney Norman Toffolon of Machias wrote in the judgment request.

Since the taking of Jordan’s land, Toffolon argues that nothing has been done to widen or improve the access to the lake, the stone wall boundary, which belongs to Jordan, has been breached by abutting landowners, and “the town’s usurpation of Mr. Jordan’s land to benefit a private developer is a violation of his [constitutional] rights.”

As proof of this, Jordan and his attorney has provided 20 pages of documents. They include affidavits, maps, letters from town attorneys and former Town Manager Larry Post, deeds, transcripts from St. Albans’ selectmen’s meetings and the 2003 annual town meeting.

Jordan also maintains in the suit that he has not received compensation for the land and since this was not paid “within a reasonable time,” according to previous court decisions, the occupation has ceased to be legal.

The town has 20 days to file a written answer to the suit, which was filed in Somerset County Superior Court.

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