Selectmen concerned with traffic ordinance

PARIS — Selectmen delayed accepting updates to the town's traffic ordinance, during their meeting Monday, voting to table the issue for more consideration.

They raised concern over some of the ordinance's requirements, particularly weight limits on some town roads and required permits for vehicles that exceeded those limits.

At the August 27 meeting the board directed the policy and procedures committee to review attorney notes and make final revisions.

The board has already been given several drafts of the ordinance and it has been reviewed by two attorneys.

Answering a question from Vice-Chair Bob Kirchherr, during the Monday meeting Committee Chairman Jack Richardson said the weight limitations included vehicles owned by residents of the road.

Richardson explained the town's existing traffic and road weight ordinances, written  in 1995 and 2003 respectively, included regulations for weight and restrictions.

"Both of those don't make any distinction what business you have to be on that road," he said.

"You violate the ordinance if you're on that road, even driving from a place you are allowed to be, to your residence."

Richardson explained the regulation accounted for the gross registered vehicle weight –  how heavy the vehicle, including cargo, is allowed to be.

According to section 12 of the draft ordinance, the weight limit on some roads would be 20,000 pounds, unchanged from the 1995 version.

The 1995 ordinance stated that the only exception to the ordinance was a one-time trip for the purpose of picking up or delivering materials or merchandise.

In its review of the ordinance, the policy and procedures committee added an exemption for vehicles that were granted a permit from the road commissioner.

A process for permitting overweight vehicles is included in the weight restriction ordinance and, according to the committee's revised ordinance, has been changed very little.

Richardson did not think there was any cost to the permit, but imagined the road commissioner might consider having a vehicle owner take out a bond to cover any damage to the road.

Board Chairman Sam Elliot questioned the permitting process, claiming the criteria listed in the weight ordinance was vague.

"If I owned a truck I'd be awful unhappy to have to go to somebody with those criteria and ask for a permit," he said, arguing that one person could approve the permit while another wouldn't.

Selectman Gerry Kilgore, who said he owns a dump truck registered for 60,000 pounds, worried that the town might be sending the wrong message to businesses with the weight and other ordinances.

Resident Mike Risica said he made his living driving his truck, which would be considered overweight under the regulation.

He worried that a town manager could decide not to permit his vehicle to travel on the road to his house.

The board decided to table the ordinance so selectmen could review it further.

After the meeting policy and procedures committee member Anne Stanley iterated that the weight restrictions were not created in the committee's ordinance revision.

"We didn't create it," she said. "It's been in effect, it just hasn't been enforced."