Three businesses express interest in leasing former post office building
Town agrees to let Viera family court tenants
BY PETER B. BRACE INDEPENDENT WRITER
Although it claims ownership of the half-acre lot that Leroy Viera has paid taxes on for decades, the town recently signed a non-disturbance agreement with the Viera family that allows them to lease the property free of any impingements by the town.

ROB BENCHLEY/The Independent The ownership dispute between the town and the Viera family will not stop a business from moving into the former Plasant Street post office, which has sat vacant since July.

Leroy Viera's ability to lease his building at 112 Pleasant St., the former Pleasant Street post office, will continue for the length of whatever lease is signed with one of several prospective tenants, regardless of property rights issues.

Currently, according to attorney Donald Lynde of Hyannis, Laura Viera Labbe has three local businesses interested in leasing her father's building at 112 Pleasant St. If they do sign a lease with one of these businesses, and if the town subsequently determines it does own the Viera property, the town will allow Viera's tenant to remain in the building for the length of the lease.

"She needs to get the property repaired and get someone in there so she can collect some rent," said Lynde. "The county is meeting us halfway, but at the present time, this seems to be an amicable way of preventing further damage to the Vieras while we work out the title issues."

The U.S. Postal Service's 20-year lease of the building at $3,000 a month that ended on July 31, was Leroy Viera's sole income, so finding a tenant is vital to his survival, Lynde added.

Attempting to follow through with a 51-year-old taking of the land and its three buildings from Viera, the town is claiming that a taking by the County of Nantucket in 1956 for drainage installations is valid and that it owns the land, not the Vieras, according to Lynde who Laura Viera Labbe hired to protect her father's property.

Leroy Viera bought the .57-of-anacre lot in 1946 and, said Lynde, has been getting bills from and paying property taxes to the town for all that time. Additionally, Viera, 82, has had to secure building permits for various projects on his property over the years, incurring permit application fees, and secured two approval-not-required plans from the Planning Board, all in his name, leading Lynde to the conclusion that the county and town have acknowledged that Viera owns the property.

Town Manager Libby Gibson would not comment specifically on whether or not the town owns 112 Pleasant St., saying that she had no new information about the ownership issues at this time but that she may have some news later this month. Lynde remains steadfast in his beliefs that his client owns the property.

"It's still my opinion that the alleged taking in 1956 is void," he said. "They took the property from owners unknown and it's remarkably similar to the William J. Devine case against the town that these takings require prior and post diligence to find any owners."

The town began contesting Viera's ownership several years ago when Nantucket Surveyors came to the town after doing some work involving the building being leased by the U.S. Postal Service with information implying that the county might have "ownership interests" in the property. Reviewed and discussed by Town Counsel Paul DeRensis, and off and on by the Board of Selectmen and the County Commissioners, Gibson said that DeRensis advised her that it appeared that the County of Nantucket is the lawful owner of 112 Pleasant St. as a result of an eminent domain taking in 1956.

Lynde said in early August that he wants the town to sign an affidavit admitting that the taking was from owners unknown and not from his client and that it was, in effect, an illegal taking. If the county persists, Lynde said he plans to sue the county to protect Viera's property.

"Hopefully the county will agree

with me at a future time," said Lynde. I