Lot line issue delays Broadway motor vehicle license vote

  The License Commission is looking for a little clarity on a border dispute before taking a vote on issuing a used car license at 1087R Broadway. The lot was the long-time home of Kevin Used Cars and was recently purchased by Raymond Desamours, who is looking to open his own used car lot with 50 vehicles onsite. But abutters have disputed the lot lines of the property and claim that the prior licensee operated at the site with no utilities and encroached upon their property.

  The commission voted to continue the hearing on the license for Desamours to its October meeting, giving the issue more time to potentially play out in land court and to get more information from the city’s health and building inspectors and the city solicitor.

  “The applicant is a successful businessman [who has] spent a lifetime in the auto business with auto sales, auto repair and also a taxi cab business,” said Don MacDonald, the attorney for Desamours. “He has an existing license in East Boston, but he does not own the property.”

  In July, MacDonald said, Desamours purchased the Broadway property so he could open a used car sales business on his own property. “Prior to his purchase, we did our due diligence and found that the property is available as a nonconforming use to sell cars,” said MacDonald. “The use of the property can transfer to the new owner as long as the nonconformity of the use is not increased.”

  MacDonald said Desamours plans to make some improvements to the property and sell used cars from the lot seven days per week from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. However, there has already been some dispute over the property before Desamours has opened for business. Police were called to the property on Sept. 19 for a complaint about a fence going up and where the property line is between the Desamours property and the abutting property owned by Action Emergency Management. Police officers recommended the dispute be taken up in court, and no legal action was taken at the time.

  According to MacDonald and Desamours, the dispute could have been the result of an abutter who was unhappy because they were unsuccessful in purchasing the property for themselves. “Since that time, it is my opinion that it has been harassment with respect to the property line,” said MacDonald. “I can show photographs where they are blocking the owner’s access to the property and generally just harassing his proposed use of the property.”

  Michael Zaccaria of Action Emergency Management Services said there was much more to the story. Zaccaria said he and the other abutters were never notified of the License Commission hearing and didn’t know about Desamours’ plans until last week, when he showed up and tried to install a fence. In addition to the notification issue, Zaccaria said the shed on the used car lot is actually on his property, adding that his business had retained an attorney to address the land issues in court.

  Zaccaria also claimed that the address Desamours is using for the license, 1087R Broadway, does not exist, and that his quick claim deed from the Registry of Deeds shows the address as 1070 Broadway. “We have an issue with the address,” Zaccaria said. “He’s using our address, 1087 Broadway. We have an issue with the address that we’ve been dealing with for years with that property.”

  While Desamours has yet to operate his business, Zaccaria also said there have been problems in general with allowing 50 cars for sale on his property. “You can’t fit 15 cars on the property, and there is no room for customer parking,” he said. “My main concern with the property is the disrepair of the property, the no utilities and the encumbrance it’s had on our facility.”

  MacDonald noted that many of the complaints had nothing to do with allowing the used car license for the property. “Whether there is a dispute about the lot line, about the placement of the shed, the placement of the fence, or the ownership of the property, if there is a deficit in the deed, he doesn’t even have to be the owner of the property to apply for the license,” MacDonald said. “He is an experienced, well-qualified, successful businessman who is well qualified to sell cars in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts … he has the right to use that lot for 50 car sales. His encroachment on the other guy’s lot or whatever they did in the past has nothing to do with this applicant.”

  MacDonald did consent to the continuance of the hearing until October to give the License Commission time to gather more information from other city officials.