PARIS — After months of debate, the X-tra Mile ATV club said it doesn’t need the town’s permission to use the Parsons Road thanks to an unnamed landowner.

The club has withdrawn a request for reconsideration by the Board of Selectmen after losing permission to use the Parsons Road in January.

The club won’t name the landowner or say what part of Parsons Road it will be using. “Some sections of the Parsons Road will still be used, but will not exceed the 500 yards allowed,” according to a release from X-tra Mile treasurer and spokesman Mark Stearns.

State law allows ATV riders to use a public way to access trails, “only the distance necessary, but in no case to exceed 500 yards.” The club sought permission from selectmen last summer because the planned distance was more than 500 yards.

Since the Board of Selectmen gave the ATV club permission to use the Parsons Road to connect their own trail system to the Oxford ATV club’s trails, the ATV riders have been debated by residents, including Parsons Road residents James and Paula Hakala.

In January, in response to the Hakalas’ complaints about noise, invasion of privacy and a lack of safety, selectmen voted 3-2 to rescind access to Parsons Road and a section of East Oxford Road used to access Parsons Road.

“I couldn’t be happier with the way it worked out,” ATV club Vice President Cliff Goodwin said Thursday. “I’d much rather ride in the woods than ride on the road.”

Stearns wouldn’t say whether the new route will pass the Hakalas’ home. “We’re not discussing any facts, any specific locations of the new trail,” Stearns said.

“Everybody will know where it is when it opens and I think everybody will be OK with it,” he said.

In previous debates over use of the Parsons Road, the ATV club found that riding past the Hakalas’ home was unavoidable.

Goodwin said even he doesn’t know who gave permission to use the trail. “But June 1, anybody who wants to ride the trails, they can come to my house and I’ll show them where it is.”

The Board of Selectmen is still set to discuss the town’s rules on ATV use. An item on forming an inquiry to the Maine Municipal Association on how to interpret the state’s ATV laws is still on the agenda for the March 14 meeting of the Board of Selectmen.

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