MINOT – The question of whether Old Buckfield Road is abandoned or a town road remained unanswered after a lengthy discussion at the selectmen’s meeting Monday night.

Four weeks ago, George and Mary Buker asked selectmen for an official ruling on the road’s status. Selectmen have since searched town records and sought advice on how road abandonment laws work and how they might be applied to the peculiarities of Old Buckfield Road’s history.

The stakes are high for both parties. If the road is an official town way, then the Bukers, who own more than half of the frontage along the approximately 1.5-mile road, have some prime developable land, and the town would be obligated to improve the road.

The section of the road in question runs from Brighton Hill Road north along the Hersey Hill ridge and down to the Turner town line. It is part of a longer road laid out in the 1780s, George Buker explained, to link the Minot Corner. The original road departed Minot Corner up Butler Hill Road, to Center Minot Hill Road, through Death Valley and up across what is now Brighton Hill Road on to Turner.

It was, Buker noted, laid out “in pretty much a straight line and without a whole lot of regard to topography.”

Buttressing his argument that the road is still an official town road, Buker noted that the March 1995 town meeting adopted an official road and street map with official street names, that includes Old Buckfield Road.

One question selectmen had is whether this action was to establish what were official town roads or what the names for the roads were – or both.

All agreed that the road names were being officially adopted so the town could participate in the enhanced 911 emergency response program.

Laws governing presumed abandonment of roads by a town are based on a judgment of whether a town has tried to maintain and keep up a road over the years. The laws seem to indicate that if a town does basically nothing to a road for 30 years, the town can take action declaring the road “presumed abandoned.”

While this section of Old Buckfield Road hasn’t been maintained in living memory, Buker recalled that around 1950 the town attempted to plow from his house to Brighton Hill Road so he could walk to school but had to give up when it just didn’t work. Town voters twice refused to declare it abandoned in March 1972 and March 1973.

Selectmen told the Bukers that this information, and more, had been or would be forwarded to Maine Municipal Association lawyers. The Bukers were assured that the board would keep communications open with them as well.

“I want to be sure what we are doing is right, no matter the consequences,” Selectman George “Buster” Downing said.

In other business, selectmen learned from Road Manager Arlan Saunders that his crew is a couple of weeks ahead of schedule in preparations for this summer’s road reclaiming and paving work. Saunders also noted that Old Woodman Hill Road has been posted (no through traffic) in both directions and that a sign has been posted advising commercial vehicles to refrain form entering Minot Avenue from Old Woodman Hill Road.

Fire Chief Steve French reported that his department has received its thermal imaging camera and will be putting it to use soon in the scheduled control burn for the Bryer garage in West Minot.