LIVERMORE — Following a public hearing, selectpersons voted on Tuesday night, Nov. 7, to continue the process of discontinuing Wyman Road to winter maintenance.
Christopher and Addie McHugh own the only residence on the road. Christopher McHugh and his attorney, Ron Guay, were the only community members attending the meeting.
Guay indicated he was confused as to the purpose of the meeting.
A letter was sent in October 2022 after which the Select Board had to wait a year before proceeding, Chair Mark Chretien noted.
The Select Board will vote on moving ahead with the discontinuance of the road, it’s not the actual discontinuance, Selectperson Scott Richmond noted. “It has to be voted on by the full town,” he stated.
Guay asked if voters would have adequate documentation on what has been happening prior to the vote.
Selectperson Brett Deyling asked if that was in reference to state laws, then noted they are available in numerous places. Anybody can access them, he stated.
“The ballot is put out before the vote takes place,” he said. “There is a meeting before the warrant articles are voted on to discuss them.”
People had every opportunity to attend every meeting held on this issue, they haven’t been barred from attending, Deyling stated.
Guay said meeting minutes aren’t available on the town’s website.
Deyling indicated those interested can talk with office staff, the website issue could be discussed later. He said he didn’t know why the website wasn’t updated.
Administrative Assistant Carrie Judd said the hearing was advertised in two papers, was to have been posted on the town’s website and Facebook page.
Guay spoke of the Androscoggin County Commission ordering the town to continue plowing Wyman Road, that the town had been plowing it a certain way for more than 25 years.
“That was before we had it surveyed, they didn’t know,” Richmond said. “We can now establish where the road is. We can share a copy with the county commission. It’s not a big deal.”
Guay suggested the town plow Wyman Road the way it is supposed to be done, that the board take a look at what its obligations are.
Richmond noted Paul Binette, the town’s assessing agent had been given the survey information but wasn’t sure if the tax map for McHugh’s property had been updated.
Selectperson Joshua Perkins said board members signed information to file the survey results with the Registry of Deeds.
Guay expressed concern that the tax maps may not be accurate.
“Tax maps are aggregated data that is available to the best available accuracy,” Deyling stated. “I know that the tax map for my property doesn’t give everything, If I want to know exactly where anything was on my property I would have to call a surveyor, find the pins or read the deed.”
Tax maps aren’t used as the basis for doing property law, that is what deeds are written for, he noted.
In September 2022 selectpersons took no action on their proposal to close a section of Wyman Road to winter maintenance after the property owner and his attorney questioned the legality of doing so. At that meeting it was noted state law had changed and discontinuing a road to winter maintenance now was a yearlong process.
That October selectpersons voted to begin the process to discontinue a section of the road for winter maintenance. The board said it had an old tax map that indicated it was town property for only the first 135 feet. Officials voted to snow blow that section only instead of plowing it. The town had been plowing about 290 feet to a turnaround near the McHugh home.
In November, the board contracted with Jamie Roy of Livermore to snow blow the town’s section of Wyman Road. The two-year contract was based on 20 storms at $250 per storm each year with the work done as needed.
On Feb. 15 the Androscoggin County Commission voted that Livermore must continue plowing the length of the road. The McHughs had filed a petition appealing the town’s decision. Photos and a Maine Department of Transportation map were presented to the commission by Guay, which he said did not agree with the town’s tax map showing the town’s portion to be only 135 feet long.
In March Selectpersons said Wyman Road would continue to be snow blown that winter as plowing couldn’t be started then. Because the road had not been plowed, getting a plow down the road would not have been possible, it was stated.
In July Selectpersons reviewed a survey that shows the deeded roadway for Wyman Road is located in a different alignment than was originally planned. The survey shows Wyman Road as laid out for Cottage Terrace subdivision (dating back to the 1920s) is different than the area used now to access the McHughs’ home. The original road is about twice as wide with a roughly triangular section of the two overlapping near state Route 4.
Maine law requires a seven-step process to discontinue a road, according to information shared in October 2022. The information states if an abutter ‘s property is not accessible by another way, the process needs to pause for a year to allow the property owners to confirm private access to property.
After a year the process may be resumed with voter approval needed at a town meeting, the information notes. The earliest that could happen is in April 2024, Richmond said then.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
