The town of Jaffrey hopes to discontinue two Class VI roads this year to protect wetlands and water resources being threatened by off-roading vehicles.
Voters will have the final say on both roads at Town Meeting, in two separate articles, one of which would make a portion of Carey Road a Class B trail, and another which would make a portion of Sherwin Hill Road a Class A trail.
While there are properties that abut the roads, no houses have a main entrance on either one, Jaffrey Town Manager Jon Frederick said in an interview Tuesday. The roads have very little legitimate traffic on them, Frederick said, and are mainly used as off-road trails.
“People are just taking their vehicles out there to have a good time, to the detriment of these sensitive areas,” Frederick said.
Carey Road travels through a portion of the town’s Children’s Woods and Carey Park to the Contoocook River.
The Conservation Commission unanimously voted this year to request the road be reclassified from the river to a point below the sewer easement into a Class B trail. The area includes a wetland that has been damaged by vehicle traffic, Frederick said.
As a Class B trail, the road remains open as a public access, and would remain an access point for recreation to the Children’s Woods and Carey Park.
Similarly, the town wishes to reclassify Sherwin Hill Road as a Class A trail.
While a Class B trail prohibits all vehicular access, a Class A trail allows access to vehicles for forestry, agriculture and to access existing buildings, and abutting landowners would also have access.
Sherwin Hill Road, which travels from Squantum Road to the Rindge town line, abuts Jaffrey’s Squantum Well Field.
The access to the well field is one of the issues, Frederick said. The road has become so rutted and torn up due to vehicles traveling on the road, it is disrupting the flow of water into the well field.
“That’s an issue we need to address,” Frederick said. “The road is so torn up, it’s creating an issue.”
While the town does not plan to place gates on Carey Road, they do intend to place more protections around Sherwin Hill Road, to help preserve the well field.
The Jaffrey Town Meeting was delayed this year due to COVID-19. The town has scheduled a drive-in style Town Meeting on April 24 at 9 a.m. at the Hope Fellowship Church, located at 16 Prescott Road. With the exception of election of town officers and zoning articles, which were voted on by ballot on March 9, all warrant articles, including the matters of Carey Road and Sherwin Hill Road, will be voted on April 24 by the public in attendance. While the meeting is held outdoors and residents will remain in their cars for a majority of the presentation, residents are allowed to offer and vote on amendments to the articles, as they would during a traditional Town Meeting. A full copy of the warrant is available on the town’s website.