Update: Town Council Sets Damages for Rhode Island Nurseries at Zero, Votes 3-2 to Abandon Heidi Drive

Updated at 11:53 p.m. on Monday.

After a two-year dispute, hours of testimony and days of hearings, the Town Council ruled in favor of the Glen Ridge Alpaca Farm and voted Monday  to abandon the paper road known as Heidi Drive.

The vote was 3 to 2 with Councilors Michael Buddemeyer and Keith Hamilton opposed.

"We are just delighted it's finally over," said Glen Ridge Farm owner Ann Fiore following the vote. "It's been a long time.

"We're very grateful to all the people who attended the meetings and to all the people who supported us. The community really stepped up."

Rhode Island Nurseries owner Bruce Vanicek did not wish to comment.

The vote to abandon included stipulations. The owners of Glen Ridge Farm must have the paper road's value assessed by the town tax assessor within six months, as well as the plots on the farm's property combined into a single plot.

A full story on these amendments and the rest of the hearing will be posted Tuesday.

The council also set damages for Rhode Island Nurseries at zero in the case of Heidi Drive Monday evening after hearing estimates from two real estate appraisers. 

The vote was 3 to 2 with Buddemeyer and Hamilton in opposition.

Councilor Judi Staven left the hearing early due to illness. Councilor James Seveney previously recused himself from the hearing.

The vote for damages came at 10:43 p.m. following hours of testimony and a five-minute recess.

Attorneys from two parties involved, the and the , spoke before the board.

This public hearing was continued from last Thursday, when the council voted that the farm was "."

The issue comes from a longstanding dispute between two neighbors—the Glen Ridge Alpaca Farm and Rhode Island Nurseries.

On one side of the issue there is Rhode Island Nurseries' owner Vanicek, who is subdividing and selling part of his land. However, the subdivision is currently only accessible by one road. Vanicek needed to build an emergency access road to comply with town regulations. 

However, the proposed emergency access road was a paper road (Heidi Drive) that ran through the Glen Ridge Alpaca Farm, located off Glen Road on Frank Coelho Drive.

The owners of Glen Ridge Farm, Kevin Tarsagian and Fiore, argued that the construction of this road would disrupt the day-to-day operations of their farm so profoundly that the farm would no longer be viable.

Check back to Portsmouth Patch on Tuesday for more on this hearing and vote.