NEW GLOUCESTER – The owner of property along Swamp Road told selectmen Monday about trespassers leaving tires, appliances and other trash on his land.
Steve Chandler of New Gloucester, one of the owners of Chandler Brothers, which owns roughly 2,700 acres in town, talked about the abuse and damage to his property.
“First, our thought is that currently the road should be kept open and in a passable condition to allow for patrol by law enforcement agencies and to allow access by the Fire Department,” Chandler wrote to the board last month.
Swamp Road is closed in the winter and gets little road maintenance. For more than 20 years selectmen have grappled with whether to close a major section of the road permanently in light of illegal dumping and trespassers partying there.
The New Gloucester Highway Department recently hauled away four truckloads of trash from the area using two dump trucks, a backhoe and three employees who worked for roughly eight hours.
Last year, volunteers gathered the trash and placed it along the road for the town crew to pick up and haul to the transfer station.
Selectmen hope to draw in state and county police officials to help. And the town plans to contact people whose names have been found in the trash.
Several remote roads with little vehicle traffic have been the target of illegal trash for years.
Board Chairman Steve Libby said the problem has been escalating.
“People’s desire to abuse others’ land has increased, and vehicles are getting further out into the woods,” Libby said.
“Yet the road is essentially not maintained thus causing the problems of abuse and dumping that now exist,” Chandler said. “Yet, the landowners pay their taxes as do homeowners and we can easily appreciate the protests brought forth by homeowners when unhappy with their service. And, they will get attention.”
Selectmen will discuss road maintenance during the summer.
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