Stamford Select Board — 2024-08-01 (Public-hearing)
- Public hearing: proposed declassification of the 0.3-mile County Road stretch to a trail for an ATV connecting trail
- Discussion of legal authority, maintenance duties, and grant eligibility (Class 4 road vs. trail)
- Motion to adjourn the public hearing
Motions (1, 1 passed)
Adjourn the public hearing Speaker 7seconded: Speaker 1passed
Other decisions
| Declassifying the 0.3-mile County Road stretch from Class 4 road to trail | No formal motion or vote was recorded on declassification. The chair (Speaker 1) said that at this point 'it doesn't make sense to me ... to change anything' and suggested leaving it the way it is for now, with the option to reconsider later with more information. Speaker 3 said he thought they were 'good keeping in a class four road.' |
| Whether to seek legal advice on road-vs-trail authority | Speaker 3 recommended seeking legal advice about the board's rights if the road is declassified, citing Title 19 (highways) and Title 23 (motor vehicles), including sections 19-301, 19-302, 19-304, 19-310 and 23 V.S.A. 3506 (ATV operation). Speaker 21 said the town does not need to contact a lawyer yet, and several members said they could look up and read the statutes themselves. |
Who owes what (3)
| Action | Owner | By when | Note | Where it stands |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wait on any motion regarding the road declassification until the board has talked to Dave, who is out of town for about two weeks | selectboard | — | Speaker 7: 'I'd like to talk to Dave [before a motion]'; Speaker 15: Dave 'won't be here for two weeks.' | open no date in the minutes |
| Look into the '301 road' and get the key to the gate | Speaker 3 | — | Speaker 3: 'I will find out about the 301 road and getting the key for you to that gate. I will make a note of that.' Speaker 1 offered to be the law-enforcement liaison for the key. | open no date in the minutes ¶ ¶101 |
| Research the statutes (Title 19, Title 23) on road vs. trail definitions and motorized-use rights | selectboard | — | Informal; members said they would look it up and read it themselves instead of hiring a lawyer. | open no date in the minutes |
scripts/action_status.py --done "a phrase".Money (1)
| Class 4 road maintenance grants and FEMA damage funding eligibility¶ ¶20 | Participants said state maintenance-grant paperwork applies to Class 4 roads, that class 4 status makes it easier to obtain funding (e.g., FEMA) for storm damage, while a trail would not qualify; a Class 4 road carries a ditch-maintenance obligation but no improvement obligation. No amounts were stated. | — |
Public comment (7)
| Speaker 1 | If the road is changed to a trail, the select board loses power to regulate it; also opposed to the road becoming a VASA-only trail and wants legal off-road vehicle (ATV/jeep/truck) use to continue on it. |
| Speaker 4 | Ownership: the National Forest owns both sides of the road and the ground under the road; the town has a legal right-of-way through. |
| Speaker 5 | State maintenance-grant paperwork is for Class 4 roads and class 4 status makes it easier to get money for damage (e.g., after a hurricane); a Class 4 road must be maintained (ditches) but cannot be improved. |
| Speaker 7 | Asked what maintenance is required of a Class 4 road; noted there are no culverts on the road and no maintenance done as long as he can remember. |
| Speaker 11 | Asked what benefit the town gets from changing the road to a trail; noted the only property on either side is National Forest, so nobody can complain about lack of maintenance. |
| Speaker 12 | Asked for the town's statutory definition of a legal trail; was told it is in the statute (citations offered to be looked up). |
| Speaker 21 | Said he does not think a lawyer needs to be contacted yet; the board can look the statutes up and read them. |
Follow-ups named in the minutes
- Decision on reclassification deferred until after consulting Dave (out of town ~2 weeks).
- Open issue noted by Speaker 3: 'bennington getting the permission on the other side as well.'
- Regular selectboard meeting was set to begin at 6 PM, a few minutes after adjournment.
What the extraction was unsure about
- Speaker identities are automatic diarization clusters ('Speaker N'); the transcript does not reliably distinguish board members from public participants, so public_comment uses the actual labels rather than guessed names.
- Front-matter present list reproduced verbatim: 'Kurt Gamari John Dunn' appears as a single entry (likely a missing comma between two people); not split.
- No vote count was stated for the motion to adjourn, so vote is null.
- Place names (Pono, Risky Ranch, Sucker Pond Road, Woodford, Reesboro, Greensboro, Powell, Bennington) are quoted as transcribed and may be audio-transcription artifacts; no interpretation was added.
Transcript
Speaker 2 — the same voice as in 4 recordings (the archive does not name this person)
Speaker 3 — no voiceprint match
Speaker 4 — the same voice as in 3 recordings (the archive does not name this person)
Speaker 5 — no voiceprint match
Speaker 6 — no voiceprint match
Speaker 7 — no voiceprint match
Speaker 8 — no voiceprint match
Speaker 9 — no voiceprint match
Speaker 10 — no voiceprint match
Speaker 11 — no voiceprint match
Speaker 12 — no voiceprint match
Speaker 13 — no voiceprint match
Speaker 14 — no voiceprint match
Speaker 15 — no voiceprint match
Speaker 16 — no voiceprint match
Speaker 17 — no voiceprint match
Speaker 18 — no voiceprint match
Speaker 19 — no voiceprint match
Speaker 1: Martina, yeah.
Speaker 3: It goes through the National Forest on both sides. Right, so you guys own both sides of the road. And you own the ground under the road. Right, so it's a, yeah. What's our connection?
Speaker 5: It's just like a road.
Speaker 3: So, that's what we've got. I think also, too, when you go out, I'm sorry. Yeah, go ahead. Go ahead. When it comes to applying for maintenance grants, all the paperwork on it, it says it's for class four roads.
Speaker 6: Yes, it does.
Speaker 7: I'll keep you honest.
Speaker 8: There's no culverts in that.
Speaker 3: Basically, what you have to do is just clean up the ditches.
Speaker 9: No maintenance. That's it.
Speaker 10: And it sounds like it could. What is the town definition of a legal trail? I know I read it somewhere at one time.
Speaker 9: So this is three-tenths of a mile. The only property that is on either side is National Forest? Yes. So nobody can buy it, so nobody can complain that it's not being maintained, correct? That makes sense. Yeah, that was my question. So why would you change it? Why can't? What is the value for changing it?
Speaker 9: Well, that's what I'm wondering. Why would you change it? Which might say you have to have this, right? You might have to survey and.
Speaker 11: It's part of the National Forest standards.
Speaker 12: So, the frog that's here doesn't jump across that road?
Speaker 10: Well, it could be a salamander. I mean, I would think one of the purposes that National Forest wants more access on the roads is to deter them from having to do such things, is that right? Well, like you said, you're always fighting. When they create new roads, when they can just access roads that are existing, that would be the whole, yeah, that would be the whole objective.
Speaker 9: So, going back to, why are we even having this?
Speaker 1: So, no, no, I'm not saying we're going to call it a VASA.
Speaker 13: I don't want it becoming just a VASA trail.
Speaker 14: No, no.
Speaker 9: Right.
Speaker 15: Yes, accessibility.
Speaker 9: In Reesboro, you ride all over there, roads.
Speaker 16: The rides, the rides, the rides.
Speaker 17: Right.
Speaker 6: You have to come down, just like we do in Woodford.
Speaker 3: Yeah. Come down here and tell them, guys, right now, there's a project up in Woodford, on the stage coach road. Which work was done at, done on that road, by private citizens, that did not go through this project. This is our next project up here. They did work on Stamford? Yup.
Speaker 8: And I don't know if that was your club or not.
Speaker 13: I don't know.
Speaker 18: I don't know.
Speaker 18: Excavator was up there.
Speaker 9: We know that. We go down 1 to 302. There's a section...
Speaker 18: over you against the little cage okay no i'm just asking because my jeep and your side-by-side are
Speaker 13: No, Dave won't be here.
Speaker 13: Yeah, he won't be here for two weeks.
Speaker 10: No, it doesn't seem to work out too good for us. We can look this up and read it. Again, I said I was never gonna mention a sign again, so don't. Right.
Speaker 19: I don't think you need to contact a lawyer yet.
Transcribed 2026-09-04 (faster-whisper large-v3, CUDA; names corrected per data/name_fixes.json). Names corrected against the minutes. Diarization is automated and over-splits one person into several labels. Raw model output with timestamps: SRT.