THROOP - The Throop Town Board finally decided to put to rest a long-standing problem with a resident whose driveway was put on town property by accident.

Edward and Lori Betancourt, 16-year residents of Throop, have been trying to quietly negotiate with the town for the past 15 months, and on Wednesday night, their wish was granted.

“This has cost us almost $2,000 in attorney's fees and $800 in surveys,” Edward Betancourt said.

“We've been playing around with this for a long time,” councilman Michael Vitale said, inclining to sell the portion of the property that the driveway passed through.

Lori Betancourt said she had wanted to buy the town's property in 1992, when she realized the mistake, but was told the town could not sell the property because of liability related to the waste that had unofficially been dumped there.

The town sent a letter to her neighbors in November 2006 offering portions of the property to them for sale for $1, and landowners expressed their interest in a silent auction. In April 2007, four adjacent landowners purchased sections of the property behind their properties for $1, but no resident wanted to buy the area that included the old dump for fear of toxic waste cleanup costs.

The Betancourts were offered the remaining .587 acre, the old dump site, if they would buy it all for $1.

“We asked to purchase a piece just for the driveway for $1,” Betancourt said,“ but the town said no.”

However, on June 21 the board offered to give them an easement in perpetuity for $500, not $1.

“I'm concerned about how the board treats people,” Throop resident Sharon Jedra said.

“I'm saddened by the fact that you handle people in this manner.”

“We contacted the Department of Environmental Conservation,” Lori Betancourt said. “They told us you'd be crazy if you buy.”

Betancourt feared she would find out that there was some environmental issue that would cost more money.

“The town wouldn't have it tested, but they said they were responsible forever,” she said.

But at the previous board meeting, a couple of stipulations were added, including she would have to maintain the property out front that the town owned.

She had been voluntarily mowing the town's property, but stopped doing so.

The board unanimously decided to sell the property for $1, and Betancourt agreed to maintain the town's adjacent property as long as she lives there by mowing and keeping the area clean.

A separate contract will be drawn up for that portion of the compromise to avoid passing it onto anyone who would purchase her home in the future.

Staff writer Kathleen Barran can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 238 or kathleen.barran@lee.net