PARIS – More than upset Hanover residents turned out at Tuesday’s Oxford County commissioners’ meeting to oppose efforts by South Shore Road residents to have their road plowed in the winter.

Commissioners tabled any decision until they visit the road.

Gary and Patricia Monroe petitioned commissioners to overturn a decision by Hanover selectmen against plowing the narrow gravel camp road around Howard Pond. The town argued that plowing the road would cost $10,000 a year, benefit only a few year-round residents, and require the road to be upgraded.

Gary Monroe said the seven residents who use the mile-long road throughout the winter share in plowing costs, which average $3,000 a year. He said other town roads that only have a few year-round residents are plowed by the town, including the North Shore Road.

“We pay taxes to plow other roads,” he told commissioners. “This really becomes an issue of fairness.”

But Selectman Bruce Powell said it wouldn’t be safe for town trucks to plow the road unless there was a “significant” upgrade to the many narrow areas in the road, particularly an area where snowdrifts accumulate.

“It is not a winter built road in our opinion,” Powell said. If it were plowed, the plow would push gravel toward the pond and make conditions there worse than they already are, he said.

Town Clerk Clem Worcester said that even though South Shore Road is a town road, “it never has been plowed, and all these people took up residence with knowing it wasn’t plowed.”

Several residents spoke against plowing the road, saying it wasn’t fair for the town to plow a road just to benefit a few residents.

According to Monroe, there are eight winterized dwellings on the road, 28 buildings in all, and two year-round families, the Monroes and Gary and Margie Bartlett.

Margie Bartlett said her husband plows the road with his three-quarter ton truck, and that’s all that’s required for most storms. “Why can’t you just swing around and do our one mile?”

Gary Bartlett said the road will sustain larger equipment, “and it’s not going to hurt it one bit.”

Because they live on a seasonal road, South Shore Road residents are assessed at 85 percent of market value, which amounts to a 15 percent tax break. Gary Monroe said the town’s cost to plow the road might be mostly offset if the seasonal tax break were eliminated by making it a year-round road.

Powell acknowledged “the time may be coming when the town may have to look more closely at the issue” because more and more people are taking up year-round residence in Hanover, which has a population of 251 people. But he said the costs of upgrading or plowing the road would have to be built into a long-term plan.

The Monroes were represented by Paris attorney Alan Perry, who told commissioners the town was “overstating” the problems associated with winter snow plowing of the road.

Commissioners are expected to render their decision on the issue at their next meeting Oct. 21.

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