CHESTERVILLE — The Planning Board has agreed to change the name of Turner Intervale Road to Huckleberry Stream Road.

The vote was 2-1, with Dan Simonds and Dan Elder in favor and Bob Leso opposed.

Chairman Linton Robinson recused himself from the Jan. 5 vote because of a conflict of interest. Vice Chairman Greg Soule abstained.

In a letter to the board and Code Enforcement Officer Brenda Medcoff, landowners Scott and Megan Heikkinen said they purchased property on the road in 1997 and built a home.

“Our map and deed during or before the title search process never referred to our woods road as Turner Intervale Road formally or legally,” the Heikkinens said. “When researching in the town of Chesterville or in Franklin County deed records, the name never existed before the town named it in 1999.”

They said they had never been contacted or involved in the process when the town named the road, which is on their private property.

“We own the road, pay taxes on the road as well as the land on both sides of the road all the way to the field,” the Heikkinens pointed out.

At its Jan. 3 meeting, the Appeals Board agreed the road name should be changed to Huckleberry Stream Road. However, they said they lacked jurisdiction to have the name changed and referred the Heikkinens back to the Planning Board.

Elder said he was concerned about the lack of documentation for changing the road.

Medcoff said she spoke to all the property owners on the road, and they had given their approval for the name change.

Elder said he didn’t have a problem with changing the name of the road but wanted to see better documentation in the future.

“The process and the procedure is something we need to turn back to for a point of discussion after we deal with this,” Simonds said. “The road naming needs to be firmed up.”

“My concern is we’ve never done this before,” Soule said. Town residents  have “never brought a name change for the board before . . . Whatever we do will set a precedent.”

The board voted to change the name of the road with the condition that all involved would sign a notarized letter of intent and that the petitioners pay for the cost of the road sign.

Additionally, the board voted 4-0 to have a warrant article for the 2018 annual town meeting addressing road name changes. The board agreed there is not enough time to draft an article for this year’s annual meeting.

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