CARIBOU – Justice Allen Hunter on Friday took under advisement the case of a Fort Kent couple suing to stop snowmobiles from using the street they live on as a snowmobile trail.

Justice Hunter heard 11 more witnesses Friday in Aroostook County Superior Court in the case that started a week ago in Fort Kent District Court. Two witnesses were heard last week.

Justice Hunter said he would await final arguments and make a decision. He set no timetable for the decision.

Robert J. and Candace C. Plourde have lived on the corner of St. Joseph and Elm streets for 17 years. They have health and safety fears of snowmobiles traveling within six feet of their home.

They have been attempting to stop snowmobilers, sometimes as many as 1,000 per day, from traveling on St. Joseph Street for several years. The problem has been worse since a former railroad bed called the Heritage Trail, which is within 600 feet of their home, has been turned into an all-purpose trail and snowmobiles use it in the winter.

Last month, the Plourdes filed a lawsuit against the town; the Fort Kent Snowmobile Association, an unincorporated association operating as a department of the town; Valley Sno-Riders Inc., a Fort Kent snowmobile club; Gary and Pauline Dumond, residents across St. Joseph Street from the Plourdes and a snowmobile dealer; and the Maine Department of Conservation, the state agency responsible for the general enforcement of snowmobile traffic and safety laws.

The Plourdes are seeking relief for the nuisance of snowmobiles, negligent infliction of emotional distress, a legal ruling on the 900-foot rule and an injunction to stop snowmobiles from traveling on St. Joseph Street.

The 900-foot rule involves a regulation that allows snowmobilers to travel up to 900 feet along a road to get to or from trails, homes and or other destinations. The rule is being used as a way to gain access to the 545-foot-long St. Joseph Street.

St. Joseph Street happens to be the closest outlet from the snowmobile trail to two snowmobile dealers, a motel and a hotel, several restaurants, a gasoline station, and an access to Canada, all on West Main Street.

Robert Plourde testified Friday that carbon monoxide detectors installed in their home went off one day last year when 1,000 snowmobiles were estimated to have gone by on St. Joseph Street during a festival.

“My wife has nearly been hit by snowmobiles while getting groceries out of the trunk of the car,” he testified. “Some days we have a blue haze outside the house.

“We have days when we have fumes in the house,” he continued. “We also have a safety issue with some who travel up and down the street at breakneck speeds.”

“I could tolerate 20 or 30 sleds, but it’s the numbers of them, and some travel in packs,” Candyce Plourde testified. “It’s at all times of the day and night.”

Plourde was on the stand over an hour Friday morning. He said the issues are health and safety. He told the court snowmobiles travel on St. Joseph Street at any hour of the day or night.

Other residents testified that they are also bothered by the noise, fumes and safety concerns. Some said they were afraid to walk along the street, fearing the snowmobilers who drive fast and recklessly.

The defense, led by Alan Harding of Presque Isle, attempted to show the court that snowmobiles have been traveling on St. Joseph Street since snowmobiles were introduced to Fort Kent more than three decades ago.

They also attempted to show that the state of Maine won’t stop snowmobiles on St. Joseph Street because of the 900-foot law.

Dana Pinette, a trail maker for the snowmobile club in the 1980s, testified that snowmobiles have used St. Joseph Street for more than two decades. He remembered installing signs along the street for snowmobilers in the early 1980s.

Pinette and several others blame the increased traffic on “people from away who discovered northern Maine” in the 1990s. Others said traffic has increased on the street because other access points to the downtown have been removed.

Gary Dumond, a snowmobile dealer who lives across the street from the Plourdes on St. Joseph Street, testified there have not been increased levels of carbon monoxide inside his home, no blue haze from emissions outside and that noise levels are not bad enough to bother conversations inside his home.

“The rest of New England discovered northern Maine in 1996 and that doubled our snowmobile traffic,” he said. “Forty to 50 percent of my business is from snow machines coming off the trail.”

“The law says it’s legal to travel there by snowmobile,” Police Chief Kenneth Michaud testified as the last witness in the case.