PARIS – Residents will decide at the annual town meeting next week whether the Colby Farm Road should be closed for winter maintenance.

Selectmen voted 4-0 Thursday to approve a draft order of closing it between Nov. 1 and April 30. During that time, town plows would not work on the road, which was recently deemed a town road by court order.

The order would be in effect for 10 years, but could be amended to allow maintenance prior to its expiration. Currently, the town does not maintain Dean Road and Sumner Road during the winter, after an order went into effect in 2002.

The road runs about 1,300 to 1,500 feet from the Bisco Road to the town’s border with West Paris. A year-round residence is off the road near the Bisco Road, and a seasonal camp is at the end of the gravel road.

An Oxford County Superior Court judge determined last year that the road was a town way after Raymond Colby of Oxford filed suit against the town. The suit argued that town actions, including the decision to close the road for winter maintenance from 1992 to 2002 and the laying of gravel on the road in 2004, led to the assumption that it was a town road.

The town unsuccessfully attempted to appeal the decision to the Maine Supreme Judicial Court, arguing that the road had not been passable for more than 30 years and led to the presumption of abandonment.

Thursday’s public hearing drew some heated comments from landowners on the road.

“I really think that we have not been treated properly,” said Marilyn Colby, Raymond’s wife. She said the road was blocked by snowdrifts last winter and had a temporary 9,000-pound weight limit posted, making it impossible to collect firewood from property there.

Kristen Loring, owner of the camp on the road, suggested using a smaller town plow to maintain it.

“I’ve never, and never have my parents, asked for an extraordinary amount of money to be put into that road,” she said.

Selectman Lloyd “Skip” Herrick said the board was considering closing the road for winter maintenance because of its structural instability and because it would not be financially beneficial to maintain it.

Selectman David Ivey said there were no full-time residences past the one close to the Bisco Road and no need to maintain the road for police or fire coverage beyond it.

Town Manager Sharon Jackson said the weight limit was put into place in December to prevent damage to the road. She said the weight limit and a winter closing would prevent the town’s larger plow trucks from going on the road and causing damage or getting stuck.

Jackson said if a private individual wishes to plow a road that is closed for winter maintenance, they must ask permission from the town. They must also assume liability for any accidents on the road and repair any damage that occurs to the road.