Sylvia, Belmont fail to settle; trial set for Oct.

BELMONT — The town’s case against state Rep. Michael Sylvia’s alleged illegal occupancy of his Farrarville Road property is scheduled to go to trial in October.

A date for the judge-only bench trial was scheduled after the town and Sylvia failed to reach agreement during an out-of-court session mediated by neutral attorney in June.

“The case did not settle,” according to a document signed by the town’s attorney, Laura Spector-Morgan, and filed with Belknap Superior Court.

“The town has one position and I have my position,” Sylvia said in a telephone interview Tuesday. “We were unable to agree on something we could settle on.”

Asked to specify where he and the town could not resolve their differences, Sylvia, who is acting as his own attorney, said, “Arbitration is off the record, and I’m not going to put it on the record.”

Spector-Morgan declined to comment on where the town and Sylvia could not come to an agreement, also citing the confidentiality rules which apply to alternative dispute resolution — or ADR.

Court rules require all civil cases go through the ADR process.

Sylvia said a preliminary court hearing in the case is scheduled for Aug. 8.

The town filed the suit against Sylvia in May 2018, alleging that, for seven years, he had been living in a recreation vehicle and a converted garage at 216 Farrarville Road, both of which are unauthorized because he never got the required permits. In addition, there is no record of a working septic system on the property, the town alleges.

Last fall Sylvia moved into an apartment at 312 Daniel Webster Highway, whereupon he asked the judge to dismiss the suit. The town said, however, it would agree to a dismissal only if the court issued a permanent injunction barring Sylvia from reoccupying the Farrarville Road property until he first obtains all required permits.

In an April ruling, Superior Court Judge James D. O’Neill III refused to dismiss the case.

The town is also insisting Sylvia pay the town’s legal fees, which totaled more than $2,100 as of January, according to court records.

The town also argues that Sylvia should be required to pay the civil penalties which the judge imposed in a ruling issued last October. At $275 a day, those penalties total $74,525 as of Tuesday’s date.