Vermont Lt. Gov. John Rodgers and his wife, Brenda Rodgers, have sued the Town of Glover, bringing to court a longrunning debate over control of a section of the road where they live and run multiple businesses.
The lawsuit asks the court to rule that a roughly three-quarter mile stretch of Rodgers Road that runs through the couple’s property is not a town highway, but rather a private stretch of road connected to a town highway on both ends. Town officials consider this stretch of road to be part of a town highway and, therefore, town property.
The road was named after the lieutenant governor’s ancestors and the section in dispute has been part of the family’s property since approximately 1838, according to the filing in Orleans County Superior Court.
“It has been my understanding, based on personal knowledge and experience living here for my entire life, that so-called ‘Rodgers Road,’ named for my family, exists as two segments of a town highway, separated in the middle by a private traveled way,” Rodgers wrote in an affidavit filed on June 11. “It has never been a through public road.”
The couple also filed a request for a preliminary injunction, which would prevent the town from performing upcoming planned work on the disputed section of Rodgers Road.
Rodgers asserts he and his family have “kept and maintained” this disputed segment of the road since its existence. He cites his own work in the disputed area, including allegedly repairing a culvert and laying gravel. Rodgers stated that the road, even portions not included in the disputed segment, has been “extremely poorly maintained.”
The lawsuit includes a map of Rodgers Road prepared by Rebecca Gilson, a land surveyor licensed in Vermont. Gilson told the court in an affidavit that, in her professional opinion, no record existed that establishes the town’s ownership of the disputed section of Rodgers Road.
The town claims the road section is a Class 4 town highway. Vermont law does not require towns to maintain Class 4 highways for year-round travel, unlike Class 1, 2 and 3 highways.
In his affidavit, Rodgers also alleged town officials told him they “have found no evidence that the disputed segment is a town highway,” and that a former selectboard member told him a portion of the road had been surrendered by the selectboard, though Rodgers admitted he could not find documentation of that.
According to the lawsuit, town officials have said that there is proof that the disputed section is part of Town Highway 48. Also, they point to documents that Rodgers filed when giving a portion of his property to his son and daughter-in-law. The documents show the property is served by Town Highway 48, which officials took as an effective acknowledgement of the town’s ownership.
Rodgers’ lawyers refuted this idea, writing that the reference to the document “is simply one of perpetuating wrong information supplied by the Town and is not reflective of their [The Rodgers’] intent.”
Rodgers claimed that if the road is upgraded as planned, the influx in traffic could hurt the interests of the several businesses operating on his property, as well as endanger his family.
Rodgers’ lawyers said the privacy of the road was important to those businesses. The farm grows cannabis as one of its crops, which can attract “unwanted attention,” the lawsuit states. Rodgers also stated in his affidavit that guests at the Rodgers Country Inn are attracted by the inn’s relative seclusion and that more traffic would cause guests to stop visiting.
He added that the road runs within approximately 20 feet of his front door, and that making this section of the road public “would cause safety and security risks to my family.”
This dispute has been ongoing for years, and garnered public attention after Rodgers made comments about the matter — originally reported by Laura Ullman of WCAX — on May 8 at a Glover selectboard meeting. In his comments, Rodgers threatened legal action against the town and said he would shut the road to through traffic.
“The reason I would like to be able to negotiate something that the town could support is because if we don’t, then we’re both gonna spend a ton more money on lawyers,” Rodgers said at that meeting. “And if I win, I’m going to shut the road down completely. There’ll be no access. If you win, you’re going to spend a whole bunch of money on lawyers and then have to spend money fixing up the road and maintaining it forever. And so I just don’t see how the town wins.”
Following the meeting, a number of Glover residents signed a petition requesting that the road remain open to the public. Elizabeth Nelson, a Glover resident, wrote a letter to the Glover selectboard requesting that the road stay open.
“If this road ceases to be a public through highway, it will make access for agricultural or residential use impossible to my property. It will also significantly affect my property value,” Nelson’s letter read.
The board subsequently voted on May 22 to keep the entirety of Rodgers Road as a town highway under its current mixed Class 3 and 4 designations.
“We look forward to the court’s decision,” Rodgers told VTDigger on Tuesday, adding that he would keep the road open to permitted individuals if he and his wife won the case.
Glover town officials could not be reached for comment regarding the lawsuit.
