ROXBURY — Residents and camp owners on West Shore and East Shore roads in Roxbury Pond village must soon select three new names each for their roads.

It’s either that or the town simply renames the roads for Enhanced 911 purposes. Once the names are submitted, Roxbury’s E911 officer Roland Patneaude will submit them to the state, which will pick a new name for each road.

Although state law allows municipalities to name all roads — whether private or town-owned — and number dwellings, Patneaude said he’d rather let residents on those roads pick three names each from which to choose.

At issue are conflicting addresses in nearby Byron, which also has East Shore and West Shore roads at Garland Pond. In the past and currently, emergency responders and delivery companies have gone to the wrong towns due to the confusion.

During the discussion at Tuesday night’s selectmen’s meeting, another issue was brought to light by Patneaude. He said someone has posted the privately-owned West Shore Road with a No Trespassing sign at its intersection with Main Street.

“Well, this may sound kind of dumb to ask, but what happens if a firetruck shows up there?” John Sutton, chairman of the Board of Selectmen, asked fire Chief Ray Carver.

“No trespassing,” he said.

“So, essentially, by putting up a No Trespassing sign on that road, whoever did, there won’t be any fire protection on that road?” Sutton asked.

Firefighter Matthew Patneaude told Sutton to check with the Maine Municipal Association, then said he believes the person who placed the sign there is 100 percent responsible.

“Unless they all agree,” Roland Patneaude, who is also a firefighter, said of property owners along the road.

Sutton said he would check with MMA on legalities and ramifications.

“I will go out on a limb and give you some direction,” Sutton told Carver. “If there’s a fire down there, go there and we’ll worry about it after. There may be some legal ramifications the person who put the sign up may not realize.”

Discussion then returned to road-naming changes. Roland Patneaude said the board should give residents on the two roads a deadline to submit the new names.

Selectman Michael Worthley suggested that East Shore Road be named Ida Luther Road, after a well-respected town resident and former Maine lawmaker.

Worthley also said Main Street should be Main Street from Route 120 to Byron. At the West Shore Road intersection, it changes to South Shore Road and changes again to East Shore Road, but it’s the same stretch of road.

Roland Patneaude said the state agrees that Main Street should be Main Street all the way through to the Byron town line.

“But the biggest issue is those two roads,” he said of West Shore and East Shore roads.

Following more discussion, selectmen tasked the E911 officer with drafting a letter for selectmen to send to the West Shore Road Association advising it to choose three new names for their road.

Selectman Tim Derouche, who lives on East Shore Road, was asked to talk with residents there to get three names.

In other business, the board accepted the resignation of Planning Board member Doug Kane, whose term expires next month.

Worthley, who is also a Roxbury firefighter, said the Fire Department is trying to set up automated external defibrillator and basic cardio-pulmonary resuscitation training for Roxbury residents.

There will be no cost for the training with the Fire Department and Med-Care Ambulance.

“It’s roughly 15 to 30 minutes out to Roxbury Pond for us to get there, so it’s very important that somebody know how to use an AED and CPR, so that they can do it until Med-Care gets there and takes over,” Worthley said.

“Very good idea,” Sutton said.

tkarkos@sunjournal.com

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