By Dawn De Busk

Staff Writer

CASCO — A group of property owners in the development of Settlers Village improved the road, bringing in thousands of yards of fill, widening it to 18 wide and putting in proper drainage ditches.

The goal was to get the town to accept the road as a public easement. Then, the town would be responsible for the wintertime maintenance, including plowing.

The problem is that the association was improving the road to the 1972 standards at the same time that local selectmen were considering the adoption of more current road standards.

So, by the time that Settlers Village Road was completed, the voters had adopted the stricter 2015 road standards at town meeting.

Yes, roads that were already public easements are allowed to abide by the 1972 road standards — those roads are grandfathered. However, all roads to be added to the public easement list must follow the 2015 standards.

Importantly, the local selectmen have no authority to change this. The residents at town meeting adopted the 2015 road standards and the board cannot make waivers.

The Casco Board of Selectmen recently heard from residents who are part of the home association in Settlers Village, which is a development accessible from Leach Hill Road.

Brian Chamberlain is one of eight homeowners. He is the former road association president and also plowed the road during the winter.

“We took care of the potholes, cut back the trees, all that stuff. We had P&K [Sand and Gravel, Inc.] put $11,000 into the road. It is 18 feet wide. It meets all the standards,” Chamberlain said. He added that Casco Code Enforcement Officer (CEO) Alex Sirois checked out the road.

“If we could get the town to accept it,” Chamberlain said.

He referred to a Casco Planning Board meeting. Settlers Village was on the agenda to update a contract zone. Planning board members had referred Chamberlain to the selectmen regarding the public easement issue.

Chairman Holly Hancock said, “We need to follow up with the planning board on where this stands. None of us knows about it.”

Casco Town Manager Dave Morton spoke.

“Mr. Chamberlain is correct. The planning board is unable to deal with plowing. The planning board has in no way committed the town to doing the plowing service.”

“The problem the select board has is that any new roads with public easements are supposed to follow the new standards adopted in 2015. I don’t remember there being ability for the selectmen to waive that.”

Selectman Grant Plummer spoke.

“The subdivision language puts it back on the owners,” Plummer said, referring to the responsibility of road maintenance. 

Chamberlain explained.

“We started fixing our roads in 2014 and weren’t aware of the upcoming changes.

We started the process of changing the contract zoning in 2014,” he said.

Plummer spoke, saying he did not want the homeowners to get their hopes up based on the planning board’s comments. Most likely, the request will be denied, he said.

“This is one that is not good. This is a road that we haven’t plowed before. We are trying to get out of the road plowing services,” Plummer said. “The 1972 road standards are pretty minimal.”

“I want to send a relatively clear message to these folks tonight that unless there is something that we don’t know,” their road won’t become a public easement.

“This winter maintenance stuff on private roads is a really slippery slope. Barring any sort of completely clear language from the planning board, the answer is going to be, ‘No,’ from this group,” Plummer said.

“All those other roads around town, private roads that were lot-developed back then, in the 1980s and ‘90s, if they are private roads, the owners agreed to maintain them,” he said.

“If we leave this as a ‘maybe issue’ tonight, there are going to be 100 more people” showing up at future meetings asking to have their roads plowed, Plummer said.

Chamberlain spoke

“The town has plowed it before — a couple of times by accident. It is only a small loop,” he said.

Plummer resumed speaking.

“It is a unique situation that you just went through contract zone change. If the town hasn’t plowed it before, we probably aren’t going to,” Plummer said.

Thomas Peaslee agreed.

“If we set the 2015 standards on the road, I don’t feel comfortable waiving those 2015 standards,” Peaslee said.

Morton said the board probably did not have a choice. It was mentioned that he would speak with legal counsel.

“I am not sure you can waive them,” Morton said.

Later in the conversation, the town manager said, “I really think your hands are tied on that issue.”

Also, during the conversation, Chairman Holly Hancock said that public easement is on the agenda for the July 9 meeting.