PHILLIPS — Selectmen at their Tuesday night meeting declined to act on a citizens’ petition to ask voters to decide whether to limit the weight of trucks traveling on a section of Reeds Mill Road.
The public controversy began when residents living near that section of the road learned of plans to increase commercial vehicle traffic.
Mark Beauregard of Rangeley plans to open his gravel pit property just beyond the Phillips town line in Madrid Township, applying for a Land Use Planning Commission permit to excavate and sell his gravel. If the application is approved, local contractors such as E. L. Vining & Sons and Bruce Manzer would be transporting the gravel by dump truck to other parts of the region.
Phillips and Madrid Township residents asked selectmen to petition the LUPC for a public hearing. The residents protested the extra volume of truck traffic, noise and the potential for road and environmental damage. The LUPC declined the request at their April and May meetings, so petitioners turned to selectmen to ask that voters decide whether or not to add a weight limit to that section of road.
Board Chairman Lincoln Haines said Town Manager Elaine Hubbard and selectmen reviewed the legal limits of a public vote to change the use of a town road. Selectmen have the exclusive authority, according to Haines, to enact any road changes.
“This puts this beyond the power of the voters to act upon,” Haines said. He said it would not be legal for the decision to be made by voters.
Both Haines and Andrew Phillips voted in favor of not taking further action on the citizens’ petition. Selectman Ray Gaudette abstained, saying, “I’m not sure how to vote, so I don’t feel confident voting on this.”
“We’ve been in contact with the Maine Department of Transportation and Androscoggin Valley Council of Governments,” Haines said. “We’re trying to do it the right and proper way the first time.”
The Maine Legislature states that municipal officers have the exclusive authority to enact all traffic ordinances in the municipality.
“The municipal officers may regulate the operation of all vehicles in the public ways and on publicly owned property,” according to the Maine Revised Statutes wording on the Maine state government’s website.
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