Ancient Roads Issue
Rears Its Head in Bethel
By Chris Costanzo

"Ancient Roads" problems are back before the Bethel Selectboard, as two residents declared Monday that the town is trying to protect a right-of-way that goes right through their house.

Jim Giberti and Kristen Smith said that the right-of-way was one of those the town has submitted to the Agency of Transportation for inclusion in a state-wide map of public roads.

The "ancient road" in question extends from Davis Road west to the town line in the Pat's Peak Road area. Part of what's on the map is not identifiable as a road at all, they said, and is impassible—besides going through the house they built themselves.

"Reinstating the right-of-way through our property destroys our life investment and represents a total disaster for us," Giberti said.

Giberti and Smith conceded that there may once have been a town right-of-way there, as recorded in the late 1700s, but noted that it was doubtful that the right-of-way was used in the 1800s and it does not appear on a town map of 1869 (known as the Beers Map). Furthermore the right-of-way hasn’t been used in the 1900s, they said.

Giberti and Smith noted that when they bought their property in 1987, the right of way did not appear on the Bethel tax map, but was placed there on the basis of historical research a few years after they acquired the property.

"We built the house ourselves and we worked hard to develop the property," Giberti said. "If we had known about the right-of-way we certainly wouldn’t have bought the property and invested in it."

Selectboard member Eric Benson assured Giberti and Smith that the placement of the right-of-way on the state map was "not done arbitrarily." Benson noted that the use to which the right-of-way has been put over the years is irrelevant, and that the only point of relevance is that the right-of-way was legally established.

"By Vermont statute, that right-of-way continues to exist until it is discontinued through a formal procedure," he said.

The selectboard does intend to name a citizen committee to make recommendations to discontinue some of the roads on the map, however, it was noted. The process would be case-by-case through notifying all affected parties and holding hearings.

New Law

The current situation with regard to such ancient roads stems from Vermont’s recent "unidentified corridors act" (Act 178). The new law requires all Vermont towns to identify and submit to the Agency of Transportation a description of all its public rights-of-way for inclusion on a general state highway map, or else risk losing the town’s rights over them.

The right-of-way that passes over the property belonging to Giberti and Smith is one of 11 such roads that the selectboard initially submitted to the agency in late January.

The question was raised as to whether the selectboard might merely omit certain rights-of-way in making its submissions to the state, thereby letting the town forfeit its rights under the new law in what has been termed "mass discontinuance." In fact, some towns that lack the resources to research their rights-of-way may be taking that route.

However, Bethel is one of a minority of towns that has performed extensive research in past years regarding its rights-of-way, and has the information readily available. All three selectboard members have at various times expressed their view that they have an obligation to protect and preserve all town assets, among them all town rights-of-way.

Last August, board chair Neal Fox commented that there are some rights-of-way in Bethel that serve no useful purpose, and indeed should be discontinued. Identifying those would be the job of the citizen commission, to which Giberti and Smith can take their case.