MASON TOWNSHIP — Oxford County has begun the process of taking Tyler Road by eminent domain. The commission will hold a public hearing on Nov. 15 on the layout of the newly public road.
After two landowners sued the county over who owned a section that ran through their property, the Oxford County Commission and the landowners reached a settlement.
The county will take the road by eminent domain and will pay the landowners, Celina Adams and Cameron Wake, about $5,000 for the 1.5 mile section running through their property.
In the settlement agreement, the county agreed to limit the width of the road to 14 feet, plus necessary turnouts. The county also agreed to pay $5,000 to compensate the couple for title research and survey work they paid for before filing the lawsuit. Wake and Adams had hired the surveyor to prove the county had abandoned the road under Maine statute.
Other people and corporations that own 11 parcels along the contested portion of road will also receive payouts for their property totaling $19,154, including Wake and Adams’ land payout.
County Administrator Scott Cole said the $2,072.96 per acre landowners will receive is “a little above market value.”
Cole said the process of taking the road requires a petition by affected landowners. The commission received that petition in early October
Use of Tyler Road became an issue in 2009 when two landowners challenged the county’s ownership of a mile-and-a-half section that runs through their properties. The U.S. Forest Service had purchased land accessible only by Tyler Road and needed the road widened and graded to accommodate timber trucks.
Wake and Adams didn’t want to see vegetation cut along the road, which they understood to be a private way. According to Cole, the landowners case was “not solid, nor without merit.” He said taking it by eminent domain was the quickest, cleanest resolution.
On Nov. 15 at 1 p.m., the commission will hold a public hearing on laying out the roadway. The hearing will take place at the end of the public section of Tyler Road on the land of Elsie Aylward.
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