York Town News
American Legion wants to know why Hannaford won’t help with deed snag
By Melissa Wood
Pictured here is a sketch of the American Legion’s proposed 11,440-square-foot function hall with a seating capacity of 250, which would be open to the public for various events, to be located on Hannaford Drive. The legion had hoped to break ground by late summer and to have the hall open for spring 2008, but deed restrictions threaten the future of the project.
Courtesy photo
Members of the York American Legion are wondering whether their plans to bring a new function hall and post facility to their site adjacent to the York Hannaford property will ever become a reality due to deed restrictions on the land.
Photo by Jennifer L. Saunders
YORK - In the late 1990s, when Hannaford Brothers wanted to build a supermarket in town, they asked the locals for support and they got it, said Steven LaPointe, facilities manager of American Legion Post 56.
"When Hannaford got the land originally from Pauline Desmond, they wanted all the townspeople to go to bat for them," said LaPointe, who sent a letter to the editor on the legion's plight to The Independent last week.
Now LaPointe wants to know why Hannaford won't extend that same courtesy to the veterans and members of the York American Legion as they hit a snag in their plans to build an almost 12,000-square-foot function hall on land adjacent to the Hannaford property.
The problem is that the deed, dated Dec. 22, 2005, in which Hannaford donated the 5.74-acre parcel to the legion, contains a restriction that LaPointe says is so limiting he can't get any bank in the area to loan the needed $1.2 million to build the facility.
The deed specifically restricts the use of the property to traditional legion activities, permitting things such as bingo, casino nights and rental of the function hall, which works for the American Legion's purposes but not for banks, which would have a tough time reselling the land because of the restrictions if the legion were to default the loan.
The deed also contains a provision that allows Hannaford to request a reversal of the deed if the legion doesn't begin to make improvements within two years.
If that happens, said LaPointe, not only would it be bad publicity for the townspeople who helped Hannaford when it came to York, but it also would go against the intent of a gentlemen's agreement negotiated in 1999 by the post's former commander, the late Leo Flynn, to move the American Legion to the spot.
LaPointe said the legion has already spent $50,000 on engineering and landscape plans and septic for the 11,440-square-foot facility that will include a 250-seat function hall, bar, offices and kitchen. He said after another trip to the Planning Board the legion would be ready break ground.
"I've already got a wedding reception booked for September, 2008," LaPointe said.
He said he understands that Hannaford wants to be protected, but wanted to know why the deed wording can't be made a little less restrictive.
"All they have to do is put that it can't be any type of facility that will compete with Hannaford," said LaPointe.
Multiple attempts to reach Hannaford spokesperson Caren Epstein for an answer to why the wording can't be altered were unsuccessful.
However, LaPointe said he has spoken with a real estate representative from Hannaford who told him that it wasn't the store's problem that the American Legion couldn't get a loan.
"They could care less," he said.
