GUILFORD — The Selectboard and Conservation Commission may soon be turning to residents for input on which “ancient” public roads, if any, the town should reclaim from history.
At the board's Sept. 23 meeting, Chair Richard Clark said time was running out for Guilford under State Act 178 of 2006 to account for and preserve these corridors as Class 4 town highways or legal trails.
Under state law, all town highways and trails must appear on town highway maps by July 1, 2015, or be discontinued.
Clark said he wasn't looking to preserve all ancient roads nestled in town, just the “four or five most sensible” to keep and downgrade to trails, perhaps as an extension of the foot trail system or for hazard mitigation planning.
Turning to a map of the area, he indicated the land linking Weatherhead Hollow Road, State Route 5, Sweet Pond Road, and River Road with modern east-west corridors.
Some of those old roads, he said, were in use fairly regularly by horseback riders and snowmobilers, and he wondered whether those trails should become available on a permanent basis.
“We're going to lose them if we don't. I'd hate to lose them,” he said.
Towns and landowners statewide have wrestled with what to do with ancient roads issue since the law went into effect, with proponents of the preservation of public access clashing with proponents of clear titles and privacy.
Clark acknowledged that some property owners now sharing land with some of these ancient roads may find they have a stake in the issue. He said they might not care, or they might offer granting a right-of-way for public access to any ancient roads the community wanted to preserve, or they might seek a lease for a right of way.
“There are so many roads I grew up walking that I can't even go near now,” Clark said.
Board member Anne Rider agreed with the need to involve residents: “I'm in favor of creating a proposal and then having a public meeting, and I'd be interested in seeing if anybody would show up,” she said.
That meeting has not been scheduled, but could take place at a meeting of the Conservation Commission, led by William Jewell, which has been researching the issue, Buckley said by telephone.
According to the Southern Windsor County Planning Commission, Act 178, enacted in May 2006, established a new town highway classification for unidentified corridors, and encouraged towns to conduct research to inventory all ancient town roads.
“Prior to adoption of this legislation, there was never a reason to include Class 4 town highways on the town highway maps developed by the Agency of Transportation, as they were an inventory of those local roads eligible for state aid town highway grants,” the SWCPC said on its website.
As a result of this law, “legal town roads became classified as unidentified corridors after July 1, 2010 if they were not clearly observable on the ground, are not legal town trails, and were not on the VTrans Town Highway Map,” the text explained.