Friday, May 23, 2025
Vermont's Lt Governor wants to claim the dirt road in front of his house as his own private driveway... it's been public right of way, for 2 centuries
the Lt Gov isn’t even the only one with property there—there are eight other houses on Rodgers Road, according to a local newspaper. “James and Hella Coe own property on the class four section of the road and don’t want to lose access,” writes The Newport Daily Express.
the town had another selectboard meeting in which “almost 20 neighbors who say they need to access that section of the road signed a petition asking the town to maintain control of the road,” according to WCAX, the CBS affiliate
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I will refrain from political ranting about who might be emboldened by whom and what, but I sure hope he loses this case, as it appears he's using the threat of financial ruin more than that of legal right to achieve his goal. I can sort of understand why he might be peeved at having this essentially non-functioning road still occasionally traversed by people he'd rather not see, but tough luck! I suspect there are other ways of getting a peaceful solution Here in Vermont there is a fairly orderly procedure for abandoning what are called "ancient roads," and I'm guessing that if all the property owners on the road agreed, it would be a pretty simple matter to render that portion of it a private right of way for them. One can't be sure, but I suspect if he didn't go out of his way to alienate his neighbors and threaten everyone within shouting distance, he could set up a property-owners' syndicate and negotiate with the town for abandonment. There are factors such as rescue and fire access that need to be addressed, and if properties other than his own must be accessed via that road, then he utterly and completely should not be allowed to close it.
ReplyDeletewell said! I didn't know you, or have forgotten, that you're in Vermont! It's a beautiful state, I drove through it once, on the 91, to get to Canada, that town of Sherbrooke. Oddly, coincidentally, it was on another 3 day weekend, in the fall of 1990, or the spring of 1991. I was stationed in Groton Ct, and had a classmate that also wanted to get off base and see the region a bit, so we split the cost of gas, and round tripped it on one really nice day. I think there was a regional fair we came across in Sherbrooke, and we spent an hour or two just wandering around there, and had a great time before driving back. But the interstate through Vermont was very nice to cruise, and the view was great!
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