Community activists at the Children’s Magical Garden got a bit of good news this week in their battle with a real estate developer.
In the spring of 2014, they filed an adverse possession claim against the Horizon Group and S & H Equities. The previous year, developer Serge Hoyda put up a fence, dividing a parcel at 157 Norfolk St. from two other lots that made up the community garden. He then sold the property for $3,350,000 to the Horizon Group, which plans a six-story residential project on the site.
In an order dated Nov. 23, State Supreme Court Judge Debra James rejected a petition from the developer to dismiss the lawsuit. This means the case moves forward. The garden group argues that the parcel is rightfully theirs because they have occupied it since at least the mid-1980s. The judge has called the two sides into court for a preliminary conference Dec. 8.
