LIVERMORE – Residents voted 41 to 24 to reject an order to discontinue a public easement on Batten Road.

However, they didn’t vote on an alternate plan for the road that has been gated to motor vehicle traffic by two property owners.

Livermore Administrative Assistant Kurt Schaub said selectpersons will discuss the town’s vote at 7 p.m. Monday, June 23, at the Town Office.

He said he will be looking for direction on what to do about the road.

Some residents on Bean Street requested last year that the road be re-opened to through traffic. Bean Street is an extension of Batten Road. Those who live on Bean Street in Livermore have to drive down through Turner and back up Route 4 to get to Livermore. Some residents wanted the road re-opened for safety issues and as a shortcut up to Brettuns’ area.

Residents voted in 1988 to discontinue Batten Road, a dirt way, to town maintenance but maintained a public easement. The decision was made after a dam burst in 1987 and washed out a bridge. Access to the southerly end of the road was lost at that time because of the bridge washout. Batten Road was discontinued from about the bridge up to Route 108.

In 1992, the then selectmen voted to allow Ralph Walton to place a gate at the north end of the road so motor vehicles could not go through.

Schaub previously said that vote that allowed the property to be gated was illegal because the law doesn’t allow selectmen to make that decision, only voters. Selectmen at that time also allowed Walton to mine sand from the road bed with the promise to leave the road in better condition than it was, he said.

The southern end of Batten Road was gated by property owner Ken Constantine.

In its current condition, the road could not be reopened to vehicular traffic because of the mining operation.

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