Paris board approves ATV road use

PARIS — ATVs are back on the streets of Paris, at least for a couple of weeks.

During its May 30 meeting, the board of selectmen voted 3-1 to approve a request from the X-tra Mile ATV club to use sections of the East Oxford Road and Parsons Road until June 16, pending the filing of a formal application with the town office by 12 p.m. on May 31.

Selectwoman Jean Smart voted against the motion and opposed granting the club's request on the basis that the board had not been presented with the required non-standard use of public roads application. (Town Clerk Elizabeth Knox has since confirmed that club members filed the request on the morning of May 31.)

X-tra Mile representative Cliff Goodwin told the board that the club wanted to complete work on a section of trail that it started last year and needed to use the road in order to maintain the portion of the trail it had already completed.

He estimated that the club would need to purchase another 100 yards of gravel to repair the damage done to the trail if it was not allowed to use the road, an expense he said the club can't afford.

"The only way to do it [complete the trail] is to use the road," Goodwin said.

He assured the selectmen that the ATV club would only use the roads for two weeks.

Selectwoman Smart questioned the lack of a formal application from the club and said that the town needed to follow its policy.

"It think if we have a policy, we should follow it," said Smart. "We have those policies and procedures to protect all the citizens. If we don't follow them, that's really an egregious thing."

The non-standard use application was adopted in 2010 so that the town could have a standardized way to process requests for road and public land use.

Goodwin told the board that the ATV club seemed to be the only group required to adhere to the town's policy.

He claimed that other groups have used town roads for such events as the Fourth of July and Christmas Parades without having to follow the policy.

"If we're the only one that has to use [the policy] it is discriminatory," Goodwin declared.