An ordinance says the road must be paved before the town could vote to accept it.
By Terry Karkos
Staff Writer

DIXFIELD – Selectmen found themselves in an uncomfortable position Monday night when the town’s outdated road ordinance came under fire.

Holt Hill Road resident Robert Child brought the matter into the open when he asked the board to grant his request for a special town meeting.

Child seeks to let voters decide whether or not to accept Child Hollow Road – a gravel road he built off Holt Hill Road according to town specifications – as a town way.

Selectmen Eugene Skibitsky and Chairman Hugh Daley balked at granting the request, claiming Dixfield’s Private Road Design and Construction Ordinance says the road must be paved before the town could vote to accept it.

Selectman Montell Kennedy and Selectwoman Sandra Buchanan, however, sided with Child, saying precedence had already been set by other unpaved private roads that were accepted as town ways.

Buchanan also argued that selectmen had been remiss in not bringing Dixfield’s outdated ordinances and polices up to date.

“I’m concerned about the frustration our citizens are having with our ordinances and policies that are out of date,” she said. “There are quite a few that haven’t been looked at since I’ve been on the board.”

The private road ordinance was established in 1988 and last updated in 1992.

Resident Ronda Palmer, who is building a house with her husband off the gravel road that Child built, spoke on behalf of Child, who is hard of hearing.

She expressed her frustration and Child’s with the Planning Board, past and present highway commissioners, and selectmen. Palmer said Child had gone before selectmen and planners to ensure he was building his road to town standards.

Palmer said that after Child got approval from planners to put in 18-inch-diameter culverts, Public Works Director David A. Orr reportedly told him they weren’t good enough. So, Child installed 24-inch-diameter culverts to satisfy Orr.

Child was also apparently given incorrect information about how big the new road’s right-of-way should be.

Town Manager Nanci Allard, who also spoke on Child’s behalf, said a former Dixfield public works director told Child initially to put in a 40-foot right-of-way on the road.

Then, she added, a lawyer got involved, who said the right-of-way had to be 50 feet.

In the end, after several minutes of discussion, selectmen tabled the matter to their next meeting at 4:30 p.m. Monday, Dec. 8, in the Ludden Memorial Library Community Room.

Selectmen did ask Allard to have Orr and Planning Board members attend that meeting. They also asked selectmen’s secretary Charlotte Collins to research town records to determine if a precedent had already been set by the town in accepting unpaved private roads as town ways.

tkarkos@sunjournal.com

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