Judge will now decide if state rep. can live on his property

BELMONT — Local resident and state Rep. Michael Sylvia has been living on his property in violation of local and state regulations, a town official testified at a court hearing Thursday.

Sylvia told the judge the town has no proof that he has broken any law.

The conflicting claims were aired during a judge-only trial on a suit brought by the town of Belmont, which alleges Sylvia has been living in a converted garage and recreational vehicle at 216 Farrarville Road.

Town Code Enforcement Officer Steven Paquin was the sole witness during the hour-long proceeding in Belknap Superior Court in Laconia.

Under questioning by Laura Spector-Morgan, the town’s attorney, Paquin said Sylvia was unlawfully living on the premises because he had never applied to convert the garage into a dwelling, and had not applied to use a camper van-type recreational vehicle on a long-term basis.

In addition, Paquin said, town records show the septic system on the property is out of commission and that there is no record that it has ever been repaired.

Paquin said a fire in 2009 destroyed the main building and rendered the septic system inoperable. Sylvia purchased the property sometime thereafter and had been living there since 2010. He said town records show Sylvia knew back then the septic system was broken.

Sylvia moved off the property last fall, after the town filed the suit, and since then has been living in an apartment at 312 Daniel Webster Highway (Route 3). However, he still claims the Farrarville Road property as his official address.

The town is asking the court to issue a permanent injunction barring Sylvia from occupying the property until he obtains all the necessary building and occupancy permits.

Under questioning by Spector-Morgan as well as cross-examination by Sylvia, who is acting as his own attorney, Paquin said he deduced Sylvia was living at the Farrarville Road address based on the frequent presence of Sylvia’s vehicle in the driveway as well as other signs of occupancy.

He said that, as he has driven by the place numerous times in the course of travel for work, he had seen lights on inside the garage and smoke coming from the chimney. During the warmer months, he said, he often saw the windows in the recreational vehicle open and the doorway steps unfolded, which he said were indications that the motor home was occupied.

Asked by Sylvia if he had kept a record of his observations every time he drove by the Farrarville Road property, Paquin said he made mental notes of what he saw and then followed up with letters to Sylvia, as he would with other property owners believed to be not complying with local building codes or zoning ordinances.

In response to another question by Sylvia, Paquin said he had never received any citizen complaints about Sylvia’s property.

In response to a question by Spector-Morgan, Paquin said he had to assume that Sylvia has been using plumbing inside the converted garage, and that because there is no known working septic system on the property, Sylvia is “polluting the ground we are getting our water from.”

Sylvia countered, “There’s no evidence of the defendant doing the harm that you claim.”

“This law is being correctly applied,” Paquin said in response to Sylvia arguing that building codes were never meant to apply to residential buildings.

Sylvia has refused to allow Paquin onto the Farrarville Road property.

Asked by Spector-Morgan if he would agree to take the stand, Sylvia invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination, which Judge James D. O’Neill III accepted.

Sylvia said he was the victim of “a political witch hunt” launched by Belmont selectmen who were “upset with the Belknap County budget of which I was instrumental.”

Sylvia, who is serving his fourth term in the state House of Representatives, is currently chairman of the Belknap County Delegation, which sets the county budget.

At one point, Sylvia suggested that he might have been living in a “cabin in the woods.” When he asked Paquin if he was familiar with Henry David Thoreau, famous for his book “Walden” — a reflection on the two years Thoreau spent in a cabin on Walden Pond in Massachusetts — O’Neill ruled the question was irrelevant to the case.

Sylvia said the town had “put forth no evidence to support its case” and asked the judge to immediately issue a ruling in his favor.

Spector-Morgan said the evidence, based on “observation and conclusion,” had shown that Sylvia’s occupancy of the property violated state and local laws.

O’Neill said he would take the case under advisement, but gave no indication when he would issue a ruling.