AUBURN – A dispute over whether a road in Minot must be maintained by the town has been settled in court.

Justice Ellen Gorman ruled against Kevin Franchetti of Manchester, who sued the town in 2004, claiming selectmen were wrong in their belief that part of York Road was legally abandoned.

Franchetti bought 82 acres and applied to the town for a permit to build a house. The application was rejected because the local building ordinance requires frontage on a town-maintained road, according to lawyer James Belleau, who with Marc Frenette represented the town in a recent civil trial. Both lawyers work for Skelton, Taintor and Abbott of Auburn.

When his building application was rejected by the town, Franchetti sued, seeking to have the court declare the disputed portion of the road a public way, Belleau said.

York Road runs from Marston Hill Road to Death Valley Road. The first half-mile is a town road and has several dwellings along it. However, Franchetti’s land had frontage along the section town officials considered abandoned.

Franchetti argued in court that because an official road map adopted by the town in 1995 included all of York Road, it was a public way, Belleau said. The map, created as part of the state’s E911 road-naming and addressing mandate, did not clearly distinguish between different types of roads.

However, Gorman ruled that the map did not constitute a legal acceptance of the roads, Belleau said.

The ruling likely saved the town of Minot hundreds of thousands of dollars, he said.

About 14 miles of roads in Minot are “cart pass, Jeep pass, old log roads,” Belleau said. If the court had ruled that the section of York Road fronting Franchetti’s property ought to be maintained by the town, all of those roads could fall under the town budget.

“This is a really important case for small towns,” Belleau said. “It can give them peace of mind that the court is mindful of road laws, that simply adopting a map is not a legal obligation to maintain roads.”

Michael Starn, spokesman for the Maine Municipal Association, said disputes involving roads often end up in court because their status isn’t always black and white.

Scott Lynch, Franchetti’s attorney, could not be reached for comment.

Franchetti has three weeks from the Sept. 27 judgment to appeal, said a clerk at 8th District Court, where the case originated.