Town officials are working to figure out how and why a building permit was issued last year for a property on Bennett Road, which may not be in compliance with Town road standards for building permits.
Bob Eger, a resident of Warren Pond Road, appeared before the Town Council Jan. 13 to discuss a house being built on Bennett Road despite the Town having designated it a “discontinued road” decades ago. He believes the road to be unbuildable and therefore not qualified for a permit, he told the council.
“It would be cost-prohibitive to bring the road up to snuff [for building] but that in fact may not be the case,” said Eger, who owns undeveloped property on Bennett Road. “And I’d like to know what my property is worth.”
“I’ve talked about this with a number of people and they have questions and are surprised at what happened,” he added.
The Town issued the building permit in 2025 based on the advice of a law firm that no longer represents the town, according to Town Manager Tim Pellerin.
“The new firm that we’re using doesn’t so much agree with that, so we’re looking at trying to adjust the (permitting) language,” Pellerin said.
The town is working with the new attorney to get “clarifying language that does what it’s supposed to,” agreed DeCarlo Brown, director of the Planning Department.
After town officials became aware of the permit question when Eger raised it at the Oct. 22 Planning Board meeting, Pellerin asked for clarification from the attorney and was told that nothing had been written down at the time and there was no record of why the advice was given.
“I apologize for that, Bob, and we’re trying to get it right,” said Pellerin. “I’ll let you know as soon as we have information.”
Councilors John James and Sam Flinkstrom both said they had questions about the situation, but would hold off since new legal language is being worked on.
