Class 4 roads continue to generate dust-ups for Chester board Road salt shortage limits use to main highways

By Shawn Cunningham
© 2026 Telegraph Publishing LLC

The Chester Select Board is having quite a moment with Class 4 roads, a subject that heats up from time to time like a dormant volcano. While the board has been working on a policy for the use of those ancient rights of way — which the town owns but no longer maintains — several landowners have challenged this and asserted their right to the roads that cross their lands.

Until his death last year, Paul Bidgood had claimed a portion of Bailey Hill Road as belonging to him and his family. Bidgood, a Massachusetts attorney, said the road had been given up by the town years ago and he wanted the snowmobile club to stop using it. According to Town Manager Julie Hance, his family has said they will not pursue his claims further.

More recently, Kirk MacGinnis who owns a second home on Wyman’s Falls Road, has demanded that the town discontinue that road through his property and has initiated a lawsuit against Chester. A status hearing in the case is set for mid-March.

And, at last Wednesday’s meeting, the board heard from Adams Farm owner Douglas Adams and his son-in-law, Damon Tyler, who have requested that the road that winds through the working farm be discontinued.

So the question for the evening was whether the board should finish its policy before making any decisions about the old roads including Adams Road. Town attorney Jim Carroll recently advised that, in light of MacGinnis’s litigation, the town move cautiously by making sure that its Road and Bridge Standards and its Class 4 policy are either combined or compatible.

Board member Tim Roper said that given the board had “been at (the policy) for over a year,” he’d like to get it moving. Others thought the desire of the Adams family would be the impetus to get it done.

In taking Carroll’s advice, the board was in effect delaying scheduling a hearing on a discontinuance for Adams Road and that drew pushback from Damon Tyler, who said he has tried to “do this the right way and bring this to the board” and that he would be “greatly dissatisfied if you punt this and don’t take it up.”

“Others have taken other methods to move their concerns forward,” said Tyler. “I’d hate to go down that route. I’m trying to do the right thing.” He noted that previously he had given the board valid reasons why they should discontinue the road. Those include the road going right through the complex containing the family’s house and barn, past gardens and hayfields that off roaders have damaged in the past and passing by ending at an active mine, which is federally regulated. Tyler said he believes that the town gets the rights and privileges of the road while his family gets the obligations and risks.

Board chair Lee Gustafson asked what specific time frame the Adams family would want discontinuance would to be done in. Tyler said the sooner the better.

The process for discontinuance of a road is spelled out in statute and Board chair Lee Gustafson asked if they could start the hearing process while they wait for the legal work to be done by Carroll. Board member Arne Jonynas said that the clock on the process begins moving with the hearing and wouldn’t necessarily leave enough time for research and site visits before a decision was due.

“I think it’s important that you partner with your farms,” said Tyler, calling the board’s delay “evidence of poor partnership” and noting that petitioning for a hearing or filing a lawsuit were among his options. Noting that he would like to work with the board but that he sees the current situation as stalling Tyler said “time is of the essence.”

The exchange got heated when Tyler said that one board member’s stance was that the road would be given up “over my dead body.” Jonynas, long an advocate of the town keeping ancient roads when appropriate, called that rude and maintained that he has said that each road is an individual situation and every one would be looked at that way.

Board member Arianna Knapp told Tyler that the board had hoped to do (the policy) with the town’s residents and that holidays and the illness of the town attorney had slowed the process. At the same time, she asked Tyler for patience.

Farm owner Douglas Adams said that while he agrees with Tyler, the discontinuance process doesn’t have to be done right away. Hance said that she will put pressure on the town’s attorney to expedite the necessary legal work so the policy can be adopted and the hearing can go forward as soon as possible.

Salt shortage and road treatment

Hance told the board that there is a shortage of road salt stemming from a partial collapse of a mine in New York State. In response, she said that Road Foreman Kirby Putnam will be limiting the use of salt to main roads while side roads – even those that are paved – will be sanded only. Hance said this would preserve the town’s stock of salt. Hance noted that the town has reached out to other suppliers and found they are taking advantage of the situation with higher prices.