ST. AGATHA – The coming snow season could be a long one for snowplow operators and people using the Flat Mountain Road to get home or as a connector to Route 161 from Route 162.

For years, the St. Agatha Public Works Department has plowed snow off the side of the Flat Mountain Road to create snow rows in agricultural fields next to the to road to control wind-driven snow.

No more, Luke Derosier Jr. has told the town.

“We’ve been told that we can no longer push snow onto his property along that road,” St. Agatha Town Manager Ryan Pelletier told the Board of Selectmen Wednesday night.

“We have to respect the landowner,” Selectman Keith Labrie, a farmer himself, said.

The road in question is a state-aid minor collector road. The town annually gets $34,000 from the state to plow the 4-mile section of road involved.

Derosier, Armand Guerrette and Edwin Pelletier and Sons Inc. own most of the land. Ryan Pelletier has not heard from the Guerrette and Edwin Pelletier operations, but said his highway foreman has. He said Guerrette and Edwin Pelletier are not stopping the practice of the highway crews.

Some 30 families could be affected by the situation. They will be receiving a letter from the town office explaining that there could be temporary road closings in the area, depending on weather conditions.

“We needed to give them a heads-up,” Ryan Pelletier said Thursday.

Labrie said plowing snow off agricultural land can cause problems for farmers in the spring and summer. He said the ground without snow cover freezes deeper than snow-covered ground.

He said frost could go down as much as six to eight feet, demanding more time in spring for the land to be ready for cultivation and planting.

Ryan Pelletier said the town is obligated to plow the road, and the state has no liability, even if it is a state-aid road.

The Maine Department of Transportation has informed Pelletier that it has no involvement in the situation.

The DOT told the town it could erect snow fences, or even plant trees to act as snow fences along the section of road.

Selectman decided Wednesday night to “wait and see what happens.”

In other business Wednesday night, selectmen also decided to cut out as much as possible the work done by town-owned equipment on private property.

It was agreed that town equipment would no longer be used to plow snow from local businesses’ parking lots, and that the town will look into cutting summer use of public equipment on private property.

The town annually receives about $20,000 for such work.

The decisions came after two contractors – the Fred McGillan Co. of Fort Fairfield and Long Lake Construction of St. David Village – complained that plowing on private property should be left to small businesses that do that type of work.

Selectmen accepted an ordinance that would restrict vehicle weights on roads posted by the town. The three-page ordinance, which can be used on any municipal way, was developed to control heavy traffic on secondary, gravel roads during wet periods and in the spring when roads are easily damaged.