HARTLAND — Bob Bryant’s neighbors would say he is the one responsible for the thousands of dollars Hartland taxpayers have forked over to fight a lawsuit over more than two years.

“Bryant for selectman? Do not be fooled by this man,” read a sign displayed outside his neighbors’ property on Great Moose Drive earlier this year as Bryant ran for a town post. “He has already cost Hartland taxpayers over $60,000 by refusing to follow the rules of the town. Is he for Hartland or himself?”

Ask Bryant, however, and he would say his neighbors are to blame for the legal wrangling: They were the ones who sued the town in 2023 over voter-approved changes to Hartland’s Shoreland Zoning Ordinance that accommodated multiple businesses, including Bryant’s small brewery and coffee roastery.

“They wasted everyone’s time,” Bryant, 65, said in a recent interview at his garage turned brewery. “They wasted the taxpayers’ money. Let’s just start there. They wasted their money, they wasted my money, and they wasted the taxpayers’ money.”

In September, a judge finally settled what amounted to a yearslong legal battle centered on Bryant’s business, brought by James Towle, Karen Towle, Dana Jandreau and Patricia Jandreau.

Ruling in favor of the town of Hartland, Superior Court Justice William R. Stokes effectively upheld Hartland’s 2023 changes to its Shoreland Zoning Ordinance and the town Planning Board’s subsequent approval of a change-of-use permit for Bryant’s garage-based business.

“I’m just glad it’s over,” Bryant said. “Again, it’s a waste of time, money, and resources.”

Towle et al. v. Town of Hartland Summary Judgment by Maine Trust For Local News

Bryant declined to say how much he spent on his own lawyer, but said it was easily in the five figures. The town spent $62,003.58 on its legal expenses related to the lawsuit, according to records obtained under Maine’s Freedom of Access Act. 

In a written response to questions, Town Manager Chris Littlefield said town officials at one point asked voters to raise an additional $30,000 to cover the legal fees at a special town meeting. Officials then proposed a larger legal budget than normal at the following town meeting, Littlefield said.

“The Town felt that the lawsuit was worth fighting as we were supporting the will of our legislative body who voted to support” the ordinance update, Littlefield wrote.

The Towles, who did not appeal Stokes’ decision, initially declined an interview and also declined for the Jandreaus on their behalf.

But after hearing Littlefield read his responses to a Morning Sentinel reporter’s questions at a select board meeting Monday night, James Towle said in a phone call Wednesday night he changed his mind. He blamed Littlefield for what he saw as an attempt to change the ordinance without following proper procedure and the select board for trying to cover it up.

“The whole cause of this is because (Littlefield) did not do his job,” Towle said.

THE LAWSUIT

The Towles and Jandreaus’ complaint stemmed from articles voters approved at a June 2023 special town meeting that amended Hartland’s Shoreland Zoning Ordinance and Shoreland Zoning Map.

The four plaintiffs filed the lawsuit against the town in Somerset County Superior Court a few weeks later. Bryant and his business, which he runs with his son out of a property he purchased in 2020, were named as parties-in-interest.

The Towles and Jandreaus, who have properties on Great Moose Lake near Bryant’s home and business, alleged in court filings that Bryant had opened his brewery and coffee roastery in violation of the town’s previous Shoreland Zoning Ordinance and illegally installed a holding tank on his property.

Town officials learned of this and then began working on the ordinance changes to allow Bryant’s Brewing, and other Hartland businesses, to continue to operate, the Towles and Jandreaus alleged. Among other changes, the ordinance amendments created a “Limited Commercial District” consisting only of Bryant’s property at 1009 Great Moose Drive.

Voters approved the changes 135-40 at the special town meeting in June 2023. A few weeks later, the Planning Board approved a change-of-use permit for Bryant’s Brewing, provided that the state Department of Environmental Protection signed off on the town’s new Shoreland Zoning Ordinance.

After months of back-and-forth with town officials, the DEP in December 2023 approved a version of the ordinance that incorporated the various changes approved at the special town meeting.

The original complaint alleged that the 2023 ordinance updates constituted “spot zoning” and conflicted with Hartland’s comprehensive plan. It also said the town did not follow proper procedure while developing the updates.

The lawsuit was expanded later in 2023, after the town worked through further editing of the ordinance with the DEP and the Planning Board issued permits for Bryant’s Brewing and other businesses, court records show. They took issue with that process, too.

In their five-count complaint, the Towles and Jandreaus ultimately asked the court to declare that the ordinance and Planning Board permit were invalid, for various reasons.

Over two years, the case grew as it made its way through the court system, filling an entire box with various documents. An attempt at mediation early on was unsuccessful.

Eventually, early this year, Stokes was left to decide the case, with each side requesting summary judgment on some of the five counts.

The voluminous filings were challenging to unravel, even for a judge. Stokes wrote in a footnote in his September decision that when he took the case under advisement, he received five to seven piles of papers, which required him to undertake the “frustrating task of hunting through duplicative affidavits and exhibits.”

In April, Stokes, who is an active retired justice, also arranged for a tour of the relevant areas of Hartland accompanied by lawyers for all parties. 

Such a judicial field trip is relatively uncommon. Stokes maintained in a footnote in his decision that his visit was not a fact-finding mission, but rather an attempt to acquaint himself with a rural Somerset County town where he had never spent time. 

Stokes also held oral arguments in August on what he called a “sufficiently confusing” aspect of the lawsuit, the DEP’s review of the Shoreland Zoning Ordinance town officials drafted following the June 2023 special town meeting.

Stokes ultimately ruled in his 24-page decision that the ordinance updates did not amount to spot zoning, citing case law that says whether a zoning ordinance is consistent with a municipality’s comprehensive plan is ultimately up to a legislative body.

In Hartland, voters at town meeting had sufficient information to determine whetherredesignating Bryant’s property for him to continue to operate lawfully was in “basic harmony” with the comprehensive plan, Stokes wrote. 

“It is not this court’s role or place to insert its judgment for that of the voters,” Stokes wrote.

As for the procedural issues raised in the lawsuit, Stokes sided with the town on all of them. Among other conclusions, he found the ordinance the DEP approved was in line with the articles voters approved and the Towles and Jandreaus should have first contested Bryant’s Planning Board permit with the town’s Board of Appeals.

STILL NEIGHBORS

Bryant insists he has been a good neighbor, continuing to treat the Towles and Jandreaus cordially, even if they give him a “stone-faced” response when he waves hello. The lawsuit has had no impact on his business, he said.

In court filings, he described Bryant’s Brewing as a community gathering place, “where friendships are made” and people can enjoy the lake. 

Littlefield, who used to live across the street from Bryant until recently, also wrote in court filings that he was never disturbed by the brewery’s presence.

Bryant estimated on a winter day, maybe a dozen people will come through his door. In the summer, over the course of the day, that total increases to about 100, mostly people who have property on the lake, he said. When the brewery has events, he has people park elsewhere and provides a shuttle.

“The important thing is that the town of Hartland didn’t do anything wrong; I didn’t do anything wrong,” Bryant said, who narrowly lost his bid to be on the Board of Selectmen. “This lawsuit was ridiculous. It was truly an exercise in futility. Even if they had won the lawsuit, what would have been the outcome? What were they expecting to get out of it?”

James Towle, naturally, sees it differently.

“They were being sneaky and got caught,” he said of Bryant and town officials. “That’s the bottom line.”

As for the town, Littlefield said officials learned a lesson.

“We learned that if you support the will of the legislative body,” Littlefield wrote, “you will likely be successful.”