Press from Rep. Garrett Bradley

T settles Greenbush neighbor's access case

March 20, 2008

A Cohasset woman who was left without a legal driveway as a result of the $513 million Greenbush commuter rail restoration can go home again without breaking the law, officials said yesterday.

MBTA General Manager Daniel A. Grabauskas said he signed off on paperwork needed to clear legal issues over the driveway to the home of Rose Collins Lucki, off South Main Street. The T is also kicking in $20,000 for legal bills, Grabauskas said.

That's a tiny fraction of what some local officials were initially demanding the T pay, and only one-third of what Collins and her former husband must pay for lawyer fees and easements, so it's a bargain compared with the cost of protracted litigation, T lawyers concluded. "I feel we're participating at the right level," Grabauskas said.

Collins Lucki's dilemma began when the T reactivated the 48-years-dormant Greenbush line last autumn and fenced off the driveway over the railroad that her family had been using, without clear legal authority, for decades. T construction crews built Collins Lucki a new connection to a drive shared by three nearby Scituate houses.

But the new driveway posed several problems, because it lacked a required Scituate zoning variance and easements to cross neighbors' land. For months, the longtime Cohasset schoolteacher was without any clearly legal access to her home.

Grabauskas credited state Representative Garrett Bradley, a Hingham Democrat, with brokering a complicated eight-way deal among Collins Lucki, neighbors, the T, and the Scituate Zoning Board of Appeals, which this month unanimously approved the variance making her new driveway legal. Collins Lucki and her lawyer, Rick Souza, could not be reached for comment yesterday.

PETER J. HOWE

Driveway dilemma along the Greenbush rail line may be resolved

By Barry Smith The Patriot Ledger

Posted Mar 05, 2008 @ 10:32 AM

COHASSET — Rosalie Collins Lucki’s driveway dilemma at her 425 S. Main St. property next to the Greenbush rail line appears headed for a resolution.

State Rep. Garrett Bradley, D-Hingham, says an agreement has been reached that would allow Lucki access to a common driveway after Greenbush reconstruction cut off her driveway from South Main Street.

Rail reconstruction for the MBTA’s Greenbush commuter line severed the long private lane that Lucki used for years to drive to South Main Street.

That left Lucki with no legal way to drive off her 4-acre property near the Scituate line.

The 61-year-old school teacher has had to resort to driving to the end of Gannett Pasture Road on the Scituate side via a common driveway shared by three Gannett Pasture Road homeowners.

But a section of her driveway, which was extended to enable her to reach the common driveway, apparently went over land owned by developer Ledgewood Estates Inc. and property on Ledgewood Farm Drive next to her home.

The MBTA early on tried to help Lucki find a solution and reportedly paid to extend her driveway to reach the common driveway. But the agency later appeared to back off.

Now steps have been taken to clear legal impediments to Lucki using that way out.

Lucki and her former husband, Peter Collins, will bear most of the cost of acquiring those two easements, Bradley said, with the MBTA paying for a smaller portion.

Bradley said he expected the language of the agreement will be completed soon.

Representing Mark Winchester of Ledgewood Estates, lawyer Michael Hayes confirmed an agreement was reached.

Now, with easement questions addressed, Lucki can ask Scituate for permission to use the common driveway, he said.

Scituate zoning limits use of a common driveway to three properties.

Scituate’s zoning board of appeals is scheduled at 7 p.m. Thursday to hear a request for an exemption to allow a four-way driveway sharing. The hearing is at the high school library, 606 Chief Justice Cushing Highway (Route 3A).

Cohasset lawyer Richard Henderson briefed the Cohasset Planning Board on Monday on the zoning relief application he said he filed. Lucki will be contributing her share toward common driveway maintenance, he said.

The Cohasset board voted 3-0 in support of the Scituate board granting the driveway use variance.