Driveway dispute: Fence not making good neighbors

ROCHESTER, N.Y. — How much of a fight would you put up over one one-thousandth of an acre of land?

A dispute in the city of Rochester over about that much property — roughly 47 square feet — has spurred a lengthy battle between a pair of homeowners that so far has involved an arrest, a no-contact order, a security camera, a 6-foot tall wooden fence, a lawsuit filed in state Supreme Court and a whole lot of heartache.

"Who knew a driveway would cause so many problems?" said Tracy Hickmott, the Lancraft Street homeowner locked in litigation with her Culver Road neighbors George and Karen Stuck. Hickmott has owned her 1950-built home since 1999. The Stucks moved in to the 1949-built house next door in 2011.

The conflict began soon after, as spelled out in court documents.

At issue is a triangular strip of land — paved over by Hickmott's one-car driveway — that's 22 inches wide at its base near Lancraft Street and diminishes to a point 52 feet up the asphalt.

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A property survey shows it's part of the Stucks' lot.

And they want their neighbor to stop using it.

To that end, they've sunk a series of spikes into the blacktop outlining the exact location of the dividing line and put up a 6-foot tall wooden privacy fence that runs the length of most of the driveway.

That fence led to Hickmott's arrest on Aug. 15, 2012, when George Stuck called Rochester police to have his neighbor charged with second-degree harassment because she'd parked on her driveway for three days running, blocking his ability to install the fence. Ultimately, the criminal charge was dismissed but not before a 30-day order of protection issued against Hickmott gave the Stucks ample time to erect the fence.

"I put in a pool, and we wanted privacy, we just wanted privacy," said George Stuck. He was uncomfortable with being interviewed but said as the rightful owner of the land, he can put up a fence directly on his lot line since the city allows for zero lot line fences. And, he noted, he could have erected the fence on part of Hickmott's driveway, but didn't.

He said he's a good guy, the kind of neighbor who will come cut your lawn if you've fallen behind, or who will come clean up the edging in front of your house if your lawn's overgrowing the sidewalk. He said he just can't understand why Hickmott's being so rigid about land that's clearly his, or why she's so angry with him.

"She's just full of rage," he said.

In November 2012, Hickmott filed suit against the Stucks in state Supreme Court, leaning on the legal concept of "adverse possession." In a nutshell, she's claiming that the driveway has been there so long and that she and past owners of her home have used, or occupied, the piece of land so openly throughout that time that it has actually become hers.

She wants the courts to either declare it so or provide her an easement that allows her full use of the driveway. And she's seeking compensation for damage done to the driveway during the fence installation, as well as damages for the arrest and legal fees.

Ideally, she said, she'd like to be compensated for the indignity of her arrest, have the driveway repaired and have the Stucks move the fence far enough away from the driveway that she could at least open the car doors when she's alongside her house.

"This went from them telling me they were going to put up a pool and a fence to him out there tapping stakes in my driveway to next thing I know, he's out there chunking out pieces of the driveway," she said. "This has cost me years of stress and countless dollars."

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Hickmott's attorney, Lawrence Krieger, said property disputes can sometimes be uglier than divorces because there's so much emotional investment in your home.

"But how would you like to own a house, a fairly modest house that has a driveway there and then new neighbors move in and to spite you, they want to put up a fence but instead of putting it up a foot back from your property, they purposely put it on your driveway and box you in so you can't drive in and open your doors?" he said. "Why box your neighbor in? People ought to be good neighbors."

As for the security camera: it's one that Hickmott installed at a corner of her house — close to the "No Trespassing" sign and driveway monitor — that faces the driveway. She's recording instances when the Stucks stand at the base of the driveway to check their lot line markers and inspect the fence and when George Stuck zips his zero-turn mower in a circle on the sidewalk in front of her house.

"You know, I'm not angry about this anymore because if you didn't laugh you'd just cry," she said. "It's just ridiculous."

In their counterclaim, the Stucks are asking the court to dismiss Hickmott's lawsuit, order her to remove the encroaching portion of her driveway, affirm their ownership of the land and to grant them legal fees and other monetary damages.

The case is scheduled for a hearing before state Supreme Court Justice Ann Marie Taddeo on Oct. 20.