PARIS — An attorney is questioning the town’s policy of not recognizing Town Farm Road as a town way, reviving a longstanding debate about its status.
Selectmen unanimously voted Monday to have town attorney Geoffrey Hole speak about the issue with Dana Hanley, who is representing the Town Farm Road Association. Hanley is contending that the road was not properly discontinued in 1933 or 1967.
The road is off Parsons Road near the Oxford town line.
Hanley said the town needs to go through six points before discontinuing a road, and that the town neglected to perform the last three steps in 1967.
Selectmen determined in 2004 that the road was not up to the standards necessary to be accepted as a town road, and refused a request by the association the next year to perform “intermittent maintenance” on the road.
Hanley charged that the town has performed maintenance on the road before. He said that 15 to 20 test pits were dug there and not properly filled in.
“That issue is one that will come back to bite the town if it doesn’t step up and say, ‘We’re going to work with the Town Farm,'” Hanley said. “Because that was an action done by the town, grading a deficiency in the Town Farm Road.”
Selectman Lloyd “Skip” Herrick questioned how Hanley knew that the road was not effectively discontinued in 1933 if he found no documentation related to the issue. He said the 1967 vote may have been a way of ensuring that the action was recorded.
“That would tell me that, again, the town’s position is that they’re abandoning that road,” Herrick said.
Hanley said the 1967 decision did not comply with the necessary steps and was not recorded.
Selectman Raymond Glover said that decision was made to create a public easement on the road, since the town was informed that one had not been created.
Hanley complained that he had not been allowed to meet with the town counsel during the 2004 to 2005 discussions, during which he said he received a letter from Town Manager Sharon Jackson stating that the town’s position was that the Town Farm Road had been discontinued.
When Glover said the board had never taken any action to bar him from meeting with counsel, Hanley charged that it was a “unilateral action of the previous town manager.”
Herrick suggested having an engineer determine whether the road was up to town specifications.
Selectman Glen Young said it would not be worth the cost to do so, and suggested setting up an ad hoc committee on the matter.
Hanley also made reference to his successful lawsuit against the town regarding the status of the Colby Farm Road. In that case, a judge in the Oxford County Superior Court determined that the road was a town way.
“The association intends to bring a legal action to enforce its rights if this matter cannot be resolved legally. The last thing the association wants to do is get involved in costly litigation with the town, which would ultimately be a lose-lose situation for both sides,” Hanley said in a letter to the town. “My hope is to open a dialogue with the board of selectmen.”
Resident Franca Ainsworth accused Selectman Troy Ripley of having a familial bias in the matter, but Ripley said the charge was inapplicable.
“This is nothing more than a witch hunt, and I’m OK with that,” Ripley said. “I’m confident that I’ve disclosed the fact that my brother is part of a company that owns a piece of real estate somewhere off of that end of town.”
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