FORT KENT – Several families on the Franklin School Road received some hope Monday night from the Fort Kent Town Council that their road may be plowed next winter.

For plowing to take place, the town needs to find $25,000 of unencumbered money to make repairs to the road. The road, in its present state, is unsafe for snowplows.

Seven families, with at least one of them against plowing the road, live on the 1.3 miles of unplowed road, located off the Violette Settlement Road. Last winter, the town plowed about 1,200 feet of a lower portion of the road.

“I’ve never been too much in favor of plowing roads that have been closed to winter plowing,” Town Councilor Gilman Caron said. “The problem is that we plowed part of the road last year.

“If we can find the money to do the work that needs to be done before the snow flies, let’s do it and plow the road,” he continued. “If not, we should put the road on the list of roads to be repaired next year.”

Resident Kim Paradis wants the road to remain unplowed.

“One of the reasons I bought property there is because it was not plowed,” she said. “It’s a lifestyle we adopted without electricity and with outhouses.

“It’s a style of life, and I realized the restrictions of living there,” she said. “It’s a way of life I chose to go into.”

Paradis said she uses a snowmobile and an all-terrain vehicle to get to and from her property.

Town Council Chairman Patrick Plourde seconded her comments that residents knew when they moved there that the road was closed to winter maintenance.

“You moved there for privacy,” he said, “although I know some of you moved there hoping it would change.”

Still, several of the nearly dozen people at the meeting said they needed a plowed winter road. They raised safety concerns of getting emergency vehicles in and out and the need to get children to a school bus pickup.

Paul Kelly, who owns property there but does not live on the road, said road reconstruction in the area could open the area to more homes and more property taxes.

Town Manager Donald Guimond said the road is too narrow for snowplows, and there is limited space for a plow turn-around at the end of the road.

He said repairs would cost at least $25,000.