BETHEL — With recreational access to the Bingham Forest potentially at stake, selectmen Monday voted to have the town attorney review a town easement and related deeds for the Daisy Bryant Road.

Some residents on the road are objecting to plans that would allow mountain bikers, hikers and other recreationists to drive the dirt road to get to trails on the 2,300-acre parcel, which is in Newry.

At its recent meeting, the Bingham Forest Authority board listened to nearly two and a half hours of public comment on its plans for a trail system on the parcel.

The town became the trustee of the land several years ago after the Bethel Water District, which owned it previously and used Chapman Brook as the town’s water supply, built wells in a new location.

Under a consent agreement with the state, the town has a management plan for the land that includes preserving the quality of the brook and allowing for low-impact recreational use.

About 50 people attended the Bingham Forest Authority board meeting. The audience was made up largely of two groups: unhappy abutters and mountain bikers who support the plan.

Daisy Bryant Road residents aired their views on road safety, environmental protection and communications regarding the authority’s plans. The authority is using the road as access to build beginner mountain bike trails on Bethel Water District land next to the Bingham parcel.

But the authority has also said that the dirt road is the only access the town has rights to for potential trails in the Bingham Forest. 

Road resident Tammy Davis said former Town Manager Jim Doar had told road residents two years ago that the road would not be used for public access to Bingham trails.

Other road residents said the Bingham Forest Authority has not kept those on the road informed of its plans.

“I’m very upset that you never communicated with us,” Cynthia Trinward said.

Her husband, Kevin, said the forest authority needs “to put a brake on this,” until more information on the process can be obtained.

Some residents have expressed concern about a video on the website of Mahoosuc Pathways, which is handling the trail planning. In it proponents discuss the potential for a “world-class recreational facility” that has “limitless opportunities.”

Davis said a long-term recreational plan should be a small one, not one with “70,000 visits . . . Let’s think small, and think high quality. I think it can be win-win.” 

Road resident Nancy Annis said safety for vehicles traveling the narrow road is a worry even now.

“With just residents, it’s a challenge to keep it safe,” she said.

Davis said the town has not proven it has legal access over the road, which was discontinued for maintenance by the town many years ago. According to the town, it still has an easement to use the road.

Davis also said if the road were to be used for access, it would need to be widened to two lanes.

She said outsiders are already negatively impacting land on the road by doing such things as building fires and trying to haul ATVs into the area.

Rick Angevine wondered about potential partiers taking advantage of the land.

“Who will police it?” he asked.

The residents also questioned whether the plan is in keeping with the wishes of William Bingham, who had stipulated in the 1920s that if the land were to no longer be used as a water supply, it should go to the state as a preserve-type resource.

They worried about the environmental/wildlife impact of mountain bikers on a new trail system. Vern Davis said the current trail construction is happening in the area of a deer wintering yard.

Brooks Morton of Newry, who was filming the meeting for local public access TV, asked the board, “When are you going to admit (the trail-building) is a change of use and appear before the Newry Planning Board?”

Morton had raised the question in the past when he was a Newry selectman.

BFA responds

Bingham Forest Authority board members and trail builder Jeremy Nellis tried to address the concerns.

Board Chairman Brent Angevine said the decision to go ahead with trail plans was a very public one.

“What we did tonight was all done before,” he said, noting there had been public hearings and a town meeting vote on the plan several years ago.

He acknowledged concerns about road safety and said the board had looked for alternative access to the land from neighboring parcels for two and a half years, without success.

“Everyone said ‘no,’” Angevine said.

He also said the online video was intended as a fundraising tool to try to acquire another access.

The town is working with the The Trust for Public Land to potentially purchase an adjacent property, but that process could take months or years, officials have said. Angevine said the Daisy Bryant Road would still be needed in some capacity, even if The Trust for Public Land effort is successful.

Angevine also said the Bingham management plan recommended a detailed forest wildlife inventory be conducted, but an inventory has not been done.

“There have been many accommodations for wildlife based on expert recommendations and site visits,” he said.

He also said at Monday’s meeting that there were no deer wintering yards.

Regarding the need for going through a Planning Board process, Bingham Forest Authority officials have said so far their activities do not require an application in Newry.

Angevine also said the authority had gone to the Bethel Planning Board, but the board did not require an application process.

As for the road easement, board member Jarrod Crockett said the authority obtained legal verification of the town’s right to use the road before proceeding with the trails plan. But, he said, it would not include rights to double the width of the road.

Still, Crockett said, “if we don’t take active steps to make it safer, people are going to go up there, anyway.”

Regarding the wishes of William Bingham, Crockett said, the Bingham Fund has made contributions to the project.

“We have the blessing of the heirs,” he said.

On the question of the impact of the trails on the environment, Nellis said they are being constructed to strict standards and would not lead to mud holes, as some have suggested.

The trails, when completed, will be 18 inches to 2 feet wide, he said.

He also said the land does not lend itself to a “50-mile” trail system.

As for partiers using the land, Nellis said when recreationists such as bikers start using property, those offenses tend to decline because the recreationists report the activity.

Bikers

Mountain bikers present at the authority meeting said the mountain biking community is typically very respectful of trail lands.

Some spoke of the need and value of having a trail system in Bethel.

“Communities all over do this,” Karen Wilson of Rumford said. “It’s unusual we don’t have this in Western Maine.”

She also said the Sunday River Resort mountain bike trails are all downhill, and a place she would not take her kids biking.

Others mentioned the economic benefit of a trail system, citing the Kingdom Trails in Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom.

Julia Reuter said she trusted the local trail builders, but expressed concern about communications with the abutters.

At Monday’s selectmen meeting, the board heard again from several road residents, as well as developer Ron Savage, who also wondered why the project didn’t need to come before the Planning Board. He said private developers would not be allowed to proceed with such a project, which he described as a change of use. Savage said it was not fair to abutters to the Bingham property not to have the plan scrutinized by the Planning Board, accompanied by formal abutter notifications. 

Before voting to have the town attorney review documents related to the road, selectmen said some abutters are saying their deeds differ from the easement language.

“We’ve got to get it right,” Selectman Don Bennett said.

Town Manager Christine Landes said after the meeting that the trail work will continue while the attorney researches the issue. 

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