LIVERMORE – No action was taken Monday on Batten Road because the town’s attorney had not been able to contact the lawyer representing Ken Constantine, one of the landowners who has blocked the road, according to Administrative Assistant Kurt Schaub.

Constantine reportedly is willing to open the southerly gate but is concerned about liability when someone leaves the public easement, Schaub said.

Town officials reviewed a four-page letter they received from Steven J. Mancine, the Bean Street resident who is leading the drive to open the road.

In it, he indicated that Ralph Walton’s claims that opening the road would have negative impacts were exaggerated. “I see no reason why Mr. Walton cannot comply with the laws,” he wrote.

“Mr. Walton has in fact had the benefit of operating without adhering to such regulations for the last 12 years. To ask that he now comply is not only reasonable but long overdue,” Mancine said.

Mancine also said town officials and others had continued “to fuel Walton’s claim that he had permission to do what he has done.”

He suggested that the town tell Walton he had illegally gated the road, destroyed the original roadbed and that he must make restitution for both.

“I fully expect our town officials to honor the vote of the town’s people at the recent town meeting and open the improperly blocked portion of Batten Road at once,” Mancine wrote.

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