March 29, 2024
BANGOR DAILY NEWS (BANGOR, MAINE

Contention over home gets murkier

WARREN — A federal agency has ordered an appraisal of the property SAD 40 took by eminent domain from a local man and his ex-girlfriend to make way for school construction.

In the meantime, Chester Collamore has refused to budge from the run-down house he calls home.

Since SAD 40 is close to breaking ground for the new school, the district may have to remove the squatter forcibly.

The agency seeking the appraisal is called Rural Economic and Community Development, formerly the Farmers Home Administration, part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

USDA’s Dale Holmes said Tuesday the agency is having the property appraised to “determine what we feel the value is.”

Collamore and his ex-girlfriend, Joyce Richards of Friendship, hold an FmHA mortgage on the 83 Eastern Road property. They originally had agreed to sell the land and house to SAD 40 for $50,000.

According to Collamore, he reneged on the agreement when he learned how much he owed FmHA with an early payoff penalty and that his ex-girlfriend would get half the profits. He and Richards owe about $38,000 to FmHA.

They each would be left with a maximum of $6,000. Collamore claims he cannot afford to buy another home since he lives on Social Security disability income of only $510 per month.

“I paid on it 11 years,” Richards said Tuesday. “So I feel as if I should be entitled to some of it.”

SAD 40, which includes Waldoboro, Warren, Washington, Union and Friendship, is expected to begin construction of a $6.25 million, 50,000-square-foot school within a few weeks, said Richard Lash, director of operations. The building will accommodate more than 400 pupils in kindergarten through sixth grade.

The district owns roughly 16 acres, with land on each side of Collamore and Richards’ half-acre. The land is needed for a water main and future parking, according to Superintendent William Doughty.

“We have not been paid off,” Holmes said. “So we have not released anything.”

Holmes is looking into the eminent domain process since he would have assumed the mortgagor would have been listed as a payee on the $50,000 check issued to Collamore and Richards. The check, which has not been cashed, is being held by an attorney for Collamore pending the appraisal.

Holmes planned to check with the federal agency’s attorney on whether SAD 40 actually owns the property now.

SAD 40’s lawyer, Kevin Haley of Lewiston, said Tuesday, “It’s a different kettle of fish when the government acts under the power the Legislature has given it.

“Our obligation is to determine the fair market value and tender payment to the owner,” he said.

According to Haley, the district did not even have to notify FmHA, but did.

He was uncertain how SAD 40 valued the property, but said the amount was agreed upon in the purchase agreement before it was taken by eminent domain.

In the case of eminent domain, title passes to the school upon tendering payment and filing a notice of taking, which is recorded in the registry of deeds, he said.

If the appraisal by the mortgagor is higher than the amount already paid, it would be up to SAD 40 to decide if it wants to meet that figure, Haley said. However, the district legally has no obligation to renegotiate, he said. The town assesses the property at $49,700, according to Collamore.

Should Collamore continue to squat, he could be served with an eviction notice, then be forcibly removed, but Haley said that would be a last resort.


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