The Bristol Board of Selectmen met April 8 with several residents who want the town to reconsider paving dirt roads.
The meeting follows an incident last year in which a Brown’s Cove Road resident physically blocked the road with an excavator and a load of logs to prevent a contractor from paving it.
“This has been part of a long-term plan for the town since I’ve been involved with town government – to continually update roads and pave roads,” Bristol Board of Selectmen Chairman Chad Hanna told the group.
Bristol voters have consistently supported this plan at town meeting, Hanna said.
The town plans to pave parts of Brown’s Cove Road, Old County Road, Poor Farm Road, Rock Schoolhouse Road, and Sproul Hill Road this year.
The residents at the meeting raised questions about the expense of paving versus maintaining gravel roads and suggested that paving creates a safety issue because people drive faster on pavement.
“Typically, we get a very small group, if any, who oppose it,” Hanna said. “Generally, the people who live on most of our dirt roads are looking forward to not having to deal with spring conditions and better longevity on their vehicle suspensions and that type of thing.”
The April 8 meeting was the “first time we’ve had any large group come and express concerns about it,” Hanna said. “It certainly is something we’ll continue to discuss.”
A small group of Southern Point Road residents asked the town not to pave that road in 2013. The selectmen subsequently worked with the residents to resolve their concerns before the road was paved.
The residents at the April 8 meeting inquired about the petition process. A couple of residents suggested the selectmen poll the residents of dirt roads and only pave a road if the majority favors pavement.
“We can’t maintain public roads by individual vote,” Hanna said.
The residents could petition the town to change its policy toward dirt roads in general or remove a certain road from the paving list, the selectmen said. Bristol voters would then decide the issue at a special town meeting.
“That would be the proper procedure,” Selectman Paul Yates said.
The selectmen also reminded residents that they have opportunities to weigh in on roads earlier in the decision-making process, during budget talks, or at town meeting.
“These decisions are not made behind closed doors,” Hanna said.
In a phone interview after the meeting, Brown’s Cove Road resident Michael Alderson said he obtained a petition form at the town office and plans to start collecting signatures after finalizing the wording for the petition.
For now, Alderson and others hope to prevent the paving of Brown’s Cove Road. “Long term, we’d like to change policy” of paving dirt roads, he said.
“We’ll probably end up with two petitions,” Alderson said.