BETHEL – After several months of discussion on a proposed road relocation, selectmen decided Monday night to send it to voters.

At issue is a proposed 600-foot northerly relocation of the Taylor Smith Road’s intersection with Route 26.

The move would increase motorists’ north-south sight distance at the intersection from 537 feet minimum to over 1,000 feet in either direction.

Relocation, however, requires the abandonment of 1,225 feet of existing road and construction of 900 feet of new road.

“Because residential development and accompanying utility installation along the Taylor Smith Road appears imminent, it is logical for the town to contemplate relocation ahead of utility installation,” Town Manager Scott Cole said.

The work would require a town appropriation of $6,000, which can only be granted by town meeting vote. Interested parties desiring the relocation, have stepped up to offer land, materials and/or work.

Robert Chadbourne of Chadbourne Tree Farms has agreed to a land swap with the town to facilitate the proposal and remove the possibility of having two easements running through his land.

Throughout the discussions, Chadbourne has harped on the hazardous nature of the intersection, believing it’s an accident waiting to happen.

“It’s too bad to wait until you have a bad accident,” Chadbourne said.

Yet businessman Jeff Gaudreau said there had never been an accident at that specific intersection. Selectman Chairman Harry Dresser Jr. concurred.

According to Bethel police, since 1993, there have only been 26 wrecks on that stretch of Route 26 between the Chandler Hill intersection and the Chadbourne mill entrance.

Dresser said there was one accident 100 feet south of the Chadbourne entrance where a driver lost control on ice. The rest of the wrecks were caused by animal strikes in the area known locally as “The Flats.”

“I don’t know whether moving the road would be safer,” Dresser said. “But I worry about the fact that we sit here and have an opportunity to set a precedent of road building for development. And I don’t see any signs that that development is imminent.”

Dresser said he wouldn’t favor the relocation at this time. Selectman Reggie Brown was also against the idea, although Selectmen Don Bennett and Jack Cross favored the relocation, siding with Chadbourne on safety issues.

“It is a safety issue,” Bennett said. “It always has been and here we have an opportunity to rectify it for probably a quarter of the cost with the donations and an understanding that development in the future is undoubtedly going to happen.”

Bennett finally ended the lengthy discussion, motioning to take the proposition to voters in the form of a special town meeting and appropriate up to $8,000 for the project. A 5-0 vote OK’d the motion.

tkarkos@sunjournal.com

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