Local board reviews legal options to secure access to disputed road in executive session

Board members and staff met in an executive session to review legal options for securing access to a stretch of roadway now claimed by a private landowner, focusing on prescriptive easement, negotiation and the possibility of eminent domain.

Staff member (S3) summarized a written legal memo and told the board that courts generally require clear and convincing evidence before finding a public dedication and that the town's realistic options are dedication, prescription, negotiation or eminent domain. "Eminent domain just means we take it. Pay him," S3 said, describing how compensation might be required if the town pursues a taking. S3 also reported the town had offered roughly $5,000 for approximately 33 feet of land and that the owner refused arbitration or payment.

The chair (S1) and other members focused on two items they said merit closed deliberation: (1) strategy for litigation or acquisition and (2) which party should be responsible for building or maintaining the road beyond the paved section. "Those two things are my point for an executive session," the chair said, while adding that most other information could remain public.

Members discussed practical complications raised by the property dispute: barriers placed on the road that block private driveways, a fire hydrant at the edge of the contested easement, and underground utilities serving private properties. Committee member (S2) asked whether fire trucks could get through the barriers to reach a nearby home, underscoring public-safety concerns. Staff participants noted water lines in the area serve private connections and that sewer was not the town's responsibility.

Throughout the discussion staff repeatedly emphasized legal uncertainty; S3 noted courts in some jurisdictions have allowed governments to acquire prescriptive easements but cautioned the town's particular stretch may not meet the test because it does not connect to another part of the town. The memo's recommendation, as read by staff, was that town decision-makers hold a closed meeting to consider the letter and determine the appropriate course of action.

Near the end of the session Staff member (S3) moved to leave executive session; Committee member (S2) seconded and the motion carried. No final acquisition decision was recorded in the transcript; participants agreed to treat the two strategic questions as the focus for closed deliberations.

The board did not state a timeline for further action in the recorded portion of the transcript.