Lefrancois Lane runs along the Mousam River next to the former Lavalley Lumber mill.
Photo: Sanford GIS
By Zendelle Bouchard
Sanford city officials have taken the next step in their plan to reduce unlawful use of taxpayer funds to maintain private roads with official recognition at the Jan. 20 meeting of the City Council that Lefrancois Lane is a private road. Residents of the road protested that the city has been plowing it for many years and should continue.
Lefrancois Lane, off New Dam Road, is 800 feet long and in “rough” condition, according to Mayor Becky Brink. Most of the frontage is owned by Robbins Lumber, who purchased the former Lavalley Lumber properties from Pleasant River Lumber in 2023. The Robbins parcels are currently up for sale. There are four homes on the road, two of which have road frontage and two others with access to it by right of way. The roadway is also used by the Wood & Sons pellet manufacturing plant, which does not have road frontage but accesses Lefrancois Lane via the Robbins property.
Public Works Director Matt Hill presented council members with a raft of background information including deeds and tax cards for each property, as well as information from state official sources. These sources indicate that using public funds to maintain private property is illegal because it violates the state constitution. Several deeds reference Lefrancois Lane as a private road.
The city’s research has not uncovered any evidence that it was ever accepted as a public roadway either by the council or by Town Meeting before it. Consideration of expending money to grade the road was postponed indefinitely by a vote of the Town Meeting in December 1952, and Hill could find no record that the issue was ever raised again.
Residents Robert Noon and Cathy Charles both noted the street sign does not indicate it is a private road. Todd Charles asked why the matter was being brought up now after so many years, and whether his property taxes would be reduced if the road is not being maintained.
Mayor Brink responded that city officials are just beginning to discover that many roads in town that have been maintained for years are actually private and is now trying to “catch up” and correct these situations.
Deputy Mayor Maura Herlihy speculated that maintenance of Lefrancois Lane may have been a “handshake deal” between the town and property owners. “That’s the way business was done,” she said. The MMA has indicated, however, that a history of plowing a private road does in no way grandfather or permit a municipality to continue the practice.
Herlihy added that for tax assessments to be reduced, property owners would have to provide evidence that homes on private roads sell for less than similar homes on public roads.
Resident Eugene Dowgiert said he purchased his property in 2017 hoping to start a business on what he thought was commercial/industrial land. “How can anybody go to your business if you have a private road? What if it snows and nobody plows and I have an accident? How about if the mill is on fire, how am I going to get out of there?” He pleaded with the council for an extension “before you go and make any rash decisions.”
Hill and Brink both said they would be happy to revisit the issue if property owners can uncover documents that indicate the city accepted Lefrancois Lane as a public roadway. Hill also noted that Public Works can legally plow the road in an emergency for public safety access.
Public Works will continue to plow the road for the rest of this winter, but Hill advised residents to look into forming a homeowner’s association and come up with a plan to hire a contractor for next winter. Brink noted that most new developments in the city are private roads and are setting up homeowner’s associations to share the cost of road maintenance.
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