Village of Castleton-on-Hudson v. Keller, CASTLETON-ON-HUDSO

• Decision Date: 13 October 1994
• Docket Number: CASTLETON-ON-HUDSO,R
• Citation: 617 N.Y.S.2d 386,208 A.D.2d 1006
• Parties: VILLAGE OFespondent, v. William J. KELLER Sr. et al., Appellants. (And Another Related Action.)
• Court: New York Supreme Court — Appellate Division

Page 386

617 N.Y.S.2d 386

208 A.D.2d 1006

VILLAGE OF CASTLETON-ON-HUDSON, Respondent, v. William J. KELLER Sr. et al., Appellants (And Another Related Action.)

Supreme Court, Appellate Division Third Department.

Oct. 13, 1994.

Rosemary Nichols, Watervliet, for appellants.

Ruberti, Girvin & Ferlazzo P.C. (Salvatore Ferlazzo, of counsel), Albany, for respondent.

Before MERCURE, J.P., and CREW, WHITE, CASEY and PETERS, JJ.

PETERS, Justice.

Appeal from an order of the Supreme Court (Kahn, J.), entered April 8, 1993 in Rensselaer County, upon a decision of the court in favor of Village of Castleton-on-Hudson. ¹

These actions concern a dispute over the ownership of a one-acre parcel of land in the Town of Schodack, Rensselaer County, which appears in the deeds held by the Village of Castleton-on-Hudson and William J. Keller Sr. and Barbara C. Keller. Facts adduced at this nonjury trial reveal that sometime prior to May 1968, Village Engineer Charles Barrow recommended that the Village acquire property from Battisti Water Supply Corporation, which included a parcel of land later designated as parcel C in the Village's water works map because it was believed that such property adversely affected the Village's surface water supply system. Unsure of the specific boundaries of Battisti Water's property, Barrow retained Rockefeller and Nucci, a surveying firm. Rockefeller and Nucci created a survey to scale dated April 25, 1968 based upon its research of all existing deeds of adjoining property owners, field measurements and the oral representations of the owner in possession, Angelo Battisti. Iron rods were placed at the boundaries thereof.

By deed dated May 31, 1968, the Village acquired a 6.95-acre parcel from Battisti Water, which included the area designated as parcel C. The deed description mirrors the Rockefeller and Nucci survey. On November 15, 1968, four-foot-high concrete monuments replaced the iron rods in order to provide visible and durable markers depicting the boundaries of the 6.95-acre parcel. Prior to 1971, the Village improved the subject property by eliminating a pond and reinstating a stream to its original condition.

In 1972, the State Department of Transportation (hereinafter the Department) discussed plans to construct Interstate Route 90 (hereinafter I-90) through Schodack. In connection therewith, at its November 12, 1973 meeting, the Village Board authorized the Department to enter its property for the purpose of drilling operation wells on parcel C. Wells were drilled and were connected to the Village's water supply through the use of above-ground irrigation piping and box culverts. The Village used these wells for approximately one year. The Department further constructed, at the Village's expense, a sleeve under I-90 in contemplation of a future permanent connection between the wells and the Village's water supply. Two of the three wells were located next to the easterly boundary of the Village's property. Each well also has a concrete encasement around it which is approximately six feet in diameter and several feet high above the ground.

Testimony further revealed that during such construction project other improvements were made on behalf of the Village by the Department, including the construction of a service road and the provision of electrical service. Thereafter, the Village conducted yearly inspections of the property, intermittently tested the wells, monitored the wells to prevent vandalism and trespassing, and maintained the property by plowing the access road and clearing out the culverts. On April 12, 1976, the Village acquired title to all of the permanent improvements and salvaged items remaining on the property under a written agreement between itself and the State.

When the Village acquired the subject property in 1968, the property north and east thereof was owned by Geneva Jones and William Jones. It was purchased in May 1972 by Delbert Bessette and Dorothy Bessette. In 1977, the Kellers entered into a land contract with the Bessettes for the purchase of their property and in 1986 the Kellers received actual title. Delbert Bessette testified that when he purchased the property from Geneva Jones in 1972, he did not have an actual survey of the property and did not know the actual boundaries. He did not believe that he owned the area in question. Delbert Bessette further testified that he intended to convey to the Kellers what the Joneses had conveyed to him. Both the Village and the Kellers paid taxes on the disputed parcel yet the tax maps on file in the Rensselaer County Clerk's office show only the Village as owning the property in dispute. While the Kellers used the property under their land contract from 1977 until its purchase and transfer in 1986, they did not improve such parcel in any way.

In 1987, the Kellers began to question the Village's ownership interest in the...