UPTON – Residents will decide at the March 9 annual town meeting whether to allow ATV riders to travel along the edge of town roads at no more than 10 mph.
Selectman Larry Nelson said a group of machine owners asked the town for permission to use seven miles of town-maintained roads. The board decided to send the question to townspeople.
“If they develop trails, they would be able to access them,” Nelson said on Wednesday.
If approved, ATV riders would be restricted to riding along the edge of the roads at no more than 10 mph. Signs would be posted stating the speed limit for ATVs.
Some in town are concerned about the safety of the riders because of the narrow, winding roads, while others are concerned that ATVs from other towns would come to Upton to ride on its roads, Town Clerk James Rector said.
The annual meeting begins at 7 p.m. in the old schoolhouse.
Also on the warrant is the first site plan review ordinance. If approved, it would allow the Planning Board to review any proposed commercial or industrial applications for such things as access, noise and odors, soils, landscaping and traffic generation. The need for such an ordinance was prompted by a proposed 5,398-acre subdivision in neighboring Andover, Planning Board Chairman James Kinney said before a hearing on the matter late last year.
Residents will also be asked to appoint a committee to oversee where and how to display a wooden gate wheel from the Lower Dam, and to act on a flood-plain ordinance.
Also, residents will be asked to decide whether to change the fiscal year from the calendar year to July 1 to June 30. If that’s approved, the annual town meeting would be moved to September.
If all money articles, including the school funding, were approved, the town would need to raise about $175,000, up slightly from 2005.
Positions to be elected from the floor include one three-year selectman’s seat held by Larry Nelson, who after serving for nine years has chosen not to run again. Also, the one-year remaining in former Selectman Richard Angevine’s term are to be filled, as will one-year terms as town clerk, tax collector and treasurer held by Rector.
The school board seat held by Suzanne Nelson, who isn’t running again, is also up for election.
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