Redding woman loses access to her driveway

Redding, Conn. (WTNH) - After nearly three decades the access to Lisa Lind-Larsen’s driveway in Redding has been blocked. Now, she has turned to News 8 for help.

This driveway has been there for 26 years. It's the only way in and out of Lind-Larsen's home. But one day in August a chain went up cutting her off and the 71-year-old woman was subsequently cut off from her visiting nurse, Meals on Wheels, and fuel oil delivery for her furnace.

Lisa Lind-Larsen now walks through the woods to get to her car at a neighbor's house in order to go to chemo-therapy and radiation sessions. She worries about the dangers of no longer having access to her driveway.

"Nobody can get in here. What is really of some concern, not only to me, in an emergency, what happens if I have a medical emergency? They can't get in here. It's totally against the law to remove access to a residence."

She's down to just two remaining bales of hay for her horses, but the next delivery can't get through. So why is the driveway blocked?

After a long, complicated tax dispute with the Town of Redding, two of her eight-and-a-half acres were foreclosed upon and sold to Daniel Torcio.

Her driveway happens to be on that land. Torcio has now chained it off, put in obstructions and dug a trench. His attorney, Adam Cohen, says his client is not interested in talking to News 8. So we headed into town.

We took our questions here to Redding Town Hall. Employees told Reporter Ted Koppy they've been instructed not to talk about the case and all communication has to come from the First Selectman.

Returning our call, First Selectman Natalie Ketcham said: "We would not turn a blind eye to a townsperson in need. There's nothing the Town of Redding can do. This is the result of a court judgment. If Ms. Lind-Larsen follows the regulations, she can get a permit to build a driveway from Churchill Road. It's the simplest, fastest resolution to the situation."

Churchill is the road on the other side of Lind-Larsen's property. To her, it's not an option because she feels the town never had the right to foreclose on the disputed two acres in the first place.

"It has to be resolved. It's a legal issue and according to the attorney general's office it cannot happen, but it did,” she said. "I can't believe it. This is like a third world situation. It can't happen in this country."

Lind-Larsen says the next step is to get an evidentiary hearing, but Torcio's lawyer, she says, has been avoiding that. In the meantime, she's just waiting for her next day in court.