LEBANON — The City Council has rejected a proposed settlement to an ongoing dispute between the city and owners of a family farm over the status of recreation trails that cross the family’s property.

Under the settlement, the city would have discontinued four historic roads that pass through Patch Orchards and are used for activities such as snowmobiling.

In exchange, the Patch family, which owns 150 acres of forested land off Route 120, would have created an alternative trail and dedicated it to the city for public use.

But at a public hearing on Wednesday, a majority of city councilors said they could not support the proposal, arguing that it forced the city to give up too much in return for a single trail.

“I don’t want to walk away from the (negotiating) table,” said Councilor Karen Liot Hill. “But from what I’ve heard tonight, it is enough for me to say that I don’t think this is a fair and equitable solution yet.”

Councilor Erling Heistad noted that the rights of way in question are interconnected and create trail loops, which results in a more engaging recreational experience.

“I think part of the enjoyment that people get from being out in the woods is seeing different things from a different perspective,” Heistad said.

Several councilors and residents suggested a proposal that would provide both the new trail and a modified trail that uses sections of existing roads to connect Route 120 and Methodist Hill Road.

Farm owner Barbara Patch, in a prepared statement to the council, said that the system of trails the farm wants discontinued is poorly maintained and less used by the public than the trails further north.

“These trails exist over rocky and rough terrain, there are washouts in certain sections and one should be prepared to encounter pricker bushes, saplings and other objects and barriers when traversing along sections of these trails,” Patch stated.

The proposed compromise was developed during mediation in February between the parties as an alternative to taking the case to trial, according to the city’s attorney Matthew Decker.

But residents at the public hearing objected to the compromise, noting the historical and recreational value of the trails to the south.

Resident Bruce James, vice-chairperson of the city’s Conservation Commission, noting that some of these roads date back to the 1760s, urged the city to retain these roads and develop them into historical landmarks.

“They can teach us what was on these lands before there was even a city of Lebanon, when all kinds of goods were moving across the land, maybe by Native Americans as well,” James said. “There is more at play here than facts of law.”

Nicole Ford Burley, curator of the Lebanon Historical Society, called these trails valuable historical artifacts and teaching tools.

“Reading a history of Lebanon’s early European settlers conveys information, but walking the city’s earliest roads conveys a sense of the physical and emotional experiences of those early (residents) in a manner that cannot be taught,” Ford Burley said.

Mayor Tim McNamara said the council received a petition with about 131 resident signatures expressing opposition to the proposed settlement.

Brad Wilder, attorney for the Patch family, explained at the hearing that the Patches are primarily interested in discontinuing the trails on the southern end of their property — Atherton Road, McCallister Road and Durkin Road — because they require the family to remove or elevate maple sap lines that cross the trails.

The Patch family would also grant the city an easement to build a trail access and parking lot for up to three cars off Methodist Hill Road.

Town officials in Enfield, which owns Class VI roads connected to Atherton and McCallister roads, have urged the Lebanon City Council not to close these roads, as it would take away existing recreational opportunities and a connection between the two communities.

This week the Enfield Planning Board sent a letter to the city offering alternative solutions to closing access to the Atherton and McCallister trails. The board asked the Patch Family to consider burying their sap lines under the trail or elevating them using “sap ladders” — a structure of vertical pipes used to lift the sap lines above the height of pedestrians or other trail activities — or to build a connecting trail from the proposed new trail to Atherton and McCallister Roads in Enfield.

Enfield resident Chris Chiasson, who lives near Atherton Road, said he purchased his property in part for the access to the Lebanon trail system.

“Atherton Road is used by a lot of Lebanon and Enfield residents. ... I watch people walk up and down my road all the time,” Chiasson said, disputing an earlier claim by Wilder that the south-side trails get less public use.

The Patch family is challenging the city’s ownership of these trails because there are no known records showing that the city made these trails public rights of way.

The city contends that these roads, which are used for hiking, horseback riding and snowmobiling, would have been made public highways “by prescription” — an informal method in New Hampshire that establishes roads as public if they have been used in that manner for 20 years — prior to 1968 when the state Legislature ended the method.

If the case went to trial, Decker said the city could lose access to the trails as a result of a judge’s ruling. While there is stronger evidence that Atherton, and McCallister to a lesser degree, qualify as historic rights of way, there are outstanding questions whether the eastern portion of Barden Hill Road was discontinued.

Wilder, attorney for the Patch family, presented a number of historical maps, dated as recently as 1967, that do not identify this portion of Barden Hill Road.

“The burden is going to be on the city to establish (in court) that these roads exist,” Wilder said.

Decker said in an interview after the meeting that he will be reaching out to the city manager and counsel for the Patch family to gauge interest in working on a new settlement proposal.

Patrick Adrian may be reached at padrian@vnews.com or 603.727-3216.