MINOT – Selectmen on Tuesday night directed Road Manager Arlan Saunders to issue a stop-work order to prevent developer Chuck Starbird from paving Pottle Hill School Road.

Saunders was asked to take the action after a review of correspondence that town attorney James Belleau received last week from Starbird’s lawyer.

Starbird’s lawyer, Scott Lynch, sent a letter to Belleau on Oct. 7, informing him that Starbird intended to pave Pottle Hill School Road this week.

Lynch enclosed a copy of an engineer’s report that indicated the road’s base met all town specifications and invited the town to inspect the road. Lynch also asked to be advised if there was any objection to paving.

Saunders said that, earlier in the day, Town Administrator Gregory Gill called him in to review a copy of Lynch’s letter and the engineer’s report.

“This leaves me to believe that Mr. Starbird intends to request acceptance of this road by the town of Minot. I have a few issues with this road that I wish to bring to your attention,” said Saunders.

Saunders said the street ordinance requires that he, as road commissioner, have a copy of the road plan and says he should be called in for periodic inspection of the work in progress.

Saunders said he had not received a copy of the plans, nor had he been called in for inspection.

Saunders also noted that the ordinance requires a 66-foot right of way, but that it appears Starbird’s road has a 49-foot right of way.

Saunders also questioned the composition of the road’s sub-base. He pointed out that the engineer’s report from Scott Dixon at R.W. Gillespie & Associates refers to the depth of the sub-base but not to the quality of the material used.

In asking Saunders to post the stop-work order, board Chairman Dean Campbell said he was most concerned with the width of the right of way and with the fact that, as the town had declared Pottle Hill School Road abandoned at the 1952 and 1972 town meetings, Starbird owns only half of the 45-foot-wide right of way for most of the road’s length.

By coincidence, Pottle Hill School Road was on a list of seven town roads, or portions of roads, that selectmen later in the evening declared officially abandoned.

Roads declared officially abandoned included:

• The Bridal Path Road from Jackson Hill Road to the Auburn town line, about a mile in length.

• A mile of Witham Road, from Center Minot Hill Road, by the Libby homestead, to Woodman Hill Road.

• The Goodwin Homestead Road, a 525-foot spur off Pottle Hill Road.

• About 3/8 of a mile of Garfield Road, from Shaw Hill Road to Harris Road.

• Joe Town Road, from a point 75 feet west of the Joe Town bridge to the Oxford town line.

• The Leland-Smith Road, a mile and a half of road from Woodman Hill Road, across the abandoned Garfield Road to Center Minot Hill Road.

These roads, or portions of roads, have been for the most part abandoned at various town meetings between 1938 and 1972 and were brought before selectmen to review so that determinations of abandonment might be reaffirmed and properly recorded at the Androscoggin County Registry of Deeds.

Tuesday’s actions bring to 13 the number of roads that selectmen have officially declared presumed abandoned in the past month.

In other business, selectmen approved a plan to cap the town’s winter sand pile to prevent the loss of salt due to water leaching, directed Selectman Steve French to continue to work with school officials to determine whether it might be more cost-effective for the Minot Consolidated School to draw its water from the town garage well, and reviewed the draft of a letter to town residents from the School Committee and Board of Selectmen explaining the ramifications of the Palesky tax-cap initiative and inviting townspeople to a Oct. 20 public hearing on the matter.