Paris group plans to press for special town meeting

PARIS — A group of landowners, who posted their land last year in protest Paris subdivision rules, began to reopen trails this past week, even as they resolved to continue the fight for a new ordinance.

Local logger Rick Jackson is spokesman for the group which submitted a proposal for a new ordinance, through Paris attorney Dana Hanley, along with enough signatures to force a public vote.  Neither he nor Hanley will name the members of that group.

Still, Jackson claimed to speak for them last week following a 3-1 vote by Paris selectmen to take the new ordinance to a referendum vote June 9, rather than call a special town meeting for its consideration within 60 days, as requested in a petition submitted by Hanley.

"This petition was circulated to force the town officials to allow a discussion and a vote by the citizens on a proposed ordinance we introduced,” said Jackson.  “The time frame of the discussion and vote was centered around the urgency to get the subdivision ordinance resolved and in place before spring building season begins.

“Unfortunately, three of the elected officials felt there were not enough votes to oppose passage during a special town meeting,” said Jackson, “and we are left with an extremely restrictive plan in place during this next construction season."

Paris’ 19-month-old subdivision ordinance, approved by voters 487-468 in a June, 2007 referendum, has been called unnecessarily restrictive by Jackson because it allows only paved roads within new developments, permits new private roads only where they can connect to existing public roads, and effectively disbands the town’s board of appeals, leaving costly court fights as the lone alternative for anyone upset with planning board administration.

One ally in the fight to amend the ordinance had been former selectman Ernie Fitts, who was hauled into court for his troubles in a complaint accusing he and Selectmen Glen Young of acting with bias.

At the January 12 selectboard meeting, Fitts found himself caught in the middle, arguing for consideration of the new ordinance, and against the tactic of posting land to gain public attention.

Fitts even found himself at odds with Young, when Young closed a portion of his 2,500 acres, effectively denying Fitts access to the trail system.  While many of the core group of 17 landowners who closed off a combined 12,000 acres did so by hanging signs and cutting trees to block trails, Young used a bucket loader to create giant, dirt walls. 

Although Jackson says all obstructions will be gone by January 31, one of Young’s mounds, on Elm Hill Road near Military Road, could still be seen on Tuesday.

“I called Rick [Jackson] and Glenn [Young] and said this has got out of hand,” recalled Fitts, on Tuesday.  “I tried to tell these guys, when you do things out of hate, all you do is created more hate.”

Jackson said Tuesday that a meeting of landowners was called out of respect to Fitts.  However, Jackson says, the most compelling argument was made by Christian Ridge Road resident Troy Ripley, who announced that he would reopen his land.

Ripley argued that the group had made its point, Jackson said, by successfully focusing public attention on their concerns with Paris subdivision ordinance and its comprehensive plan.  As case in point, Jackson says, he spent “more than 25 hours” on the phone this past weekend with snowmobilers anxious to take advantage of recent storms.  Jackson says the group agreed with Ripley that it had made progress in countermanding public opinion, which had painted members as “developers,” and not simple landowners.

But more importantly, Jackson says, Ripley laid claim to an unspoken moral high ground, given that his 18-year-old daughter, Megan, was accidentally killed by a hunter in 2006, while on family property.

With Ripley unwilling to post his land, the others in the group quickly fell in line.

“Ernie’s points were valid,” says Jackson.  “But Troy’s actions added tremendous credibility to Ernie’s arguments.”

With the land reopened, Jackson says his group is now focusing on a second round of petitioning, in hopes that they can take advantage of a state law which allows a notary public to call a town meeting when selectmen refuse.  Jackson said Tuesday that his group has already gathered more than half of the 211 signatures necessary.

“We have an obligation to the signators of the first petition,” said Jackson.  “They asked to have a special town meeting within 60 days and we are going to follow through on that.”

Jackson said Hanley is expected to submit a new round of signatures at the January 26 selectboard meeting.

Town Manager Sharon Jackson (no relation to Rick Jackson) says town attorney Geoff Hole is reviewing the applicable laws, to determine if, and how, a notary public can overrule selectmen to call a town meeting.

She also noted that John Mahoney, a senior planner with the Androscoggin Valley Council of Governments (AVCOG) who was hired to help draft Paris existing subdivision ordinance, has reviewed the draft proposal and found “several inconsistencies” with state law.       

“That doesn’t make the document illegal,” said Sharon Jackson, “but, if adopted by voters, it will create a great deal of confusion for developers.”

Rick Jackson says putting off a vote on the proposal until June is a “delaying tactic” designed to sew dissent.  Although selectboard chairman Ray Glover has called for a series of four public hearings on the proposal, Rick Jackson says that, too, is “an insult to the intelligence of the voter.” 

Selectmen agree to commit millions of dollars to local sewer systems after a single public hearing, he argues, adding that the proposed changes to the ordinance are all “easily understood.”

Partly out of frustration with the selectboard, Rick Jackson says his group plans to gather signatures on two additional ordinances — one to create a system for removing selectmen from office, and one to create a “road map” for the petitioning process.

“We hope the selectmen will understand that we have done everything we have said we will do,” said Rick Jackson, “and we will continue in that fashion.”

However, Jackson stresses that, whether his group’s subdivision proposal is decided at referendum or town meeting, a no vote will not lead to a reposting of the trails.

“We are not trying to blackmail anyone,” he said.

The next selectboard meeting, at which Hanley is expected to speak on behalf of the Rick Jackson’s group, is scheduled for 7 p.m. on Monday, January 26, at the town office.

Because Hanley has refused to name the members of Rick Jackson’s group, or which of them may have authored the ordinance proposal, his exactly relationship to them has been unclear.  However, Rick Jackson said Tuesday that Hanley is, in fact, a hired gun.

“He may have a personal interest in our efforts, but the meter runs when we go talk to him,” said Jackson.

Jackson also refuses to name his cohorts, saying only that Ripley and Young, while sympathetic, are not part of the “core group.”

Assuming no signature-stimulated changes in the schedule, the first chance the public will have to weigh in on the new subdivision ordinance will be at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, February 3, at the town office.  Additional hearings will follow on the first Tuesday of each month though May.

Copies of the proposal, with a comparison to the current subdivision ordinance, is available free of charge to registered Paris voters at the town office.  Sharon Jackson says a list of Mahoney’s concerns also will be distributed.