Vassalboro board of appeals postpones action on road name

by Mary Grow

Vassalboro Board of Appeals members, meeting Oct. 9, postponed action on an appeal of a road name until they have time to publicize the required public hearing. They scheduled the hearing for 4 p.m., Thursday, Oct. 23, in the town office meeting room.

Last spring, town codes officer Eric Currie approved the name White Ridge Road for a road running off Oak Grove Road. The road runs through the property of Silas Cain to Jeff White’s lot. Cain has appealed the name.

Board members consulted two Vassalboro ordinances, the Addressing Standards Ordinance, also called the E-911 Ordinance, and the Enforcement and Appeals Ordinance.

The first, adopted in 1996, says the Municipal Addressing Coordinator (who is the codes officer, Town Manager Aaron Miller said) shall approve all new road names. It also says every road that serves two or more addresses must be named, and both sides must be numbered at 50-foot intervals; and it sets standards for visible signs on developed properties.

“I didn’t think he had the right to put his name on my road,”
– Silas Cain

The Enforcement and Appeals Ordinance, adopted in 2009 and amended in 2010, applies to all ordinances “enforced or administered by the Code Enforcement Officer.” When the Board of Appeals receives an appeal, the ordinance says its first duty is to schedule a date to hear it.

Next, the board must notify the codes officer, who must mail notice of the hearing to the appellant, abutters and the town official whose decision is being appealed. The codes officer also needs to have the hearing publicized in an area newspaper.

Cain attended the Oct. 9 meeting, with his daughter, Lisa Munster, and paralegal John Frankenfield, from the Augusta firm of Mitchell and Davis. He explained that White has a right-of-way to his property across Cain’s property.

Last spring, Cain said, White told him the town planned to name the road. Cain considered asking that it be named in honor of his late wife.

He heard nothing more, however, until the White Ridge Road sign appeared. Discussion Oct. 9 indicated that White filled out the form requesting the name.

“I didn’t think he had the right to put his name on my road,” Cain said. Board members questioned whether town officials had contacted the right person.

They came up with several more questions. Frankenfield plans to answer some by Oct. 23; board members will ask Town Manager Miller to forward some to the town attorney.

At the beginning of the meeting, the first since Lauchlin Titus’s appointment created a quorum, board members elected John Reuthe chairman and Rebecca Lamey secretary.