If Roy Pastor and Robert Hirsch had their way, Selectman Tim Clark would be forbidden to enter places where he does business on Ayer Road, including his bank, his daughter’s dance studio, and a popular pizza eatery. Pastor, attorney for and trustee of Hirsch’s RDJ Realty Company, issued a “Notice of Trespass” order to Clark on June 3, forbidding him to enter three RDJ properties on Ayer Road, including Harvard Plaza. Clark received the notice by certified mail on June 4.

The first location listed on the no-trespass order is number 275, a small, unobtrusive Cape-style house, which sits vacant behind some trees, bushes, and tall grass adjacent to Harvard Plaza—the second location called out on the order. The plaza comprises several businesses—Sorrento’s Pizzeria, Primerica Insurance, Moving Arts Dance Studio, Myhouse.com Realty, and Rollstone Bank and Trust—and the Seeds of Faith Community Church. The third location, number 295, is a house next to Harvard Outdoor Power.

What prompted the order? According to the notice issued by Pastor, it was “because of an incident occurring on said property on or about May 16, 2010.” When contacted by the Press Tuesday for more information on what that incident was, Pastor said he had no comment. However, Police Chief Ed Denmark told the Press the no-trespass order appeared to have been prompted by an incident that was reported to police on May 11.

According to the police report, Pastor and Hirsch told Officer Greg Newman that someone had broken into the vacant house at 275 Ayer Road on May 9 and had vandalized the water system by tipping over the hot water heater and breaking some of the water pipes. Hirsch said the water system in the house was a public water system for all businesses at the plaza. He told Newman that he had discovered the damage after someone called from Sorrento’s to report that there was no water at the restaurant.

Newman asked Hirsch if he knew of anyone who would go to the trouble of vandalizing the water system, and, according to the report, both Hirsch and Pastor said that Clark was “doing everything he could” to stop Hirsch from putting a beer and wine store in the plaza. When Newman asked if they really thought that Clark would do something like that to the water system, they both replied, “No,” but added that Clark would “like to see something like this stop the project.”

The plumber Hirsch hired to repair the damage told police that the house was in a state of extreme disrepair, and that the pipes had been pulled out of the ceiling when the water tank fell over. Newman noted in his report that Hirsch had discouraged him from entering the house to take photographs because of its condition, stating that it was too dangerous for him to enter. The police investigation, which was closed May 21, concluded that the damage was not due to vandalism, but to the “poor condition of the house,” and noted that the house has been condemned by the town.

Denmark told the Press that the no-trespass order is unenforceable, citing two cases where the Supreme Judicial Court ruled that a landlord could not prevent a tenant from having people on his property. “The lessee has the controlling interest in an area,” he said. “As long as he [Clark] is a client or customer [of businesses in the plaza], the landlord has no right to restrict him from being there.”

When asked to comment on the no-trespass order, Clark said that he had never been notified by police about any complaint against him. He called it “a case of harassment,” speculating that it was because of public documents and other information he provided during the recent liquor license hearings that called into question whether certain prerequisite conditions at the Hirsch property had been met. He pointed out that the no-trespass notice was issued on June 3, almost two weeks after the police investigation into the case was closed.

A case of bad blood?

Bad blood between Pastor and Hirsch and Clark appears to date back to January when, during deliberation at a Board of Selectmen’s meeting on issuing beer-and-wine liquor licenses to Hirsch and Lyn Horowitz, owner of the General Store, Pastor requested that Clark remove himself from the deliberations, alleging that Clark had visited Hirsch in his Acton store and asked him to withdraw his application. Clark denied the allegation, saying he had visited Hirsch as “part of his due diligence” as a town official and to advise him of problems with his application.

Clark told the Press this week that in doing his “due diligence,” he had discovered that documents related to Harvard Plaza’s Title V inspection were missing.

During a discussion at a March Board of Health meeting, concerning the whereabouts of Title V inspection documents related to the Hirsch property, Pastor suggested that missing health board documents could be in Clark’s possession. In a letter to the editor in the April 16 edition of the Press, Clark stated, “As part of the selectmen’s due diligence process regarding the liquor licensing for RDJ Realty’s property on Ayer Road, and in my capacity as a selectman, I reviewed the property files at the Board of Health office at Town Hall. I made copies of certain documents, which I presented at the public hearing regarding the liquor licensing. I did not remove any original documents from the Board of Health office. As of this writing, nobody has contacted me directly regarding any missing documents. Any allegation that I am in possession of any document from the Board of Health files that is not in the public record and residing at Town Hall is false.”

In speaking with the Press this week, Clark said he believes that the process for Title V inspections has not been properly followed on the Hirsch property, and he questions why the public water supply for Harvard Plaza is allowed to exist in a condemned building. He also said he believes that the Board of Selectmen did not follow the correct procedures in issuing final approval of Hirsch’s liquor license.

As for the no-trespass notice, it doesn’t appear that Clark will have to worry about taking his daughter to dance lessons or eating at Sorrento’s. According to Denmark, “It’s not a valid no-trespass notice. We won’t enforce it.”