LEBANON — Owners of a family farm in the city have proposed creating a new public recreation trail through the property if the city agrees to discontinue public access on four other rights of way that the farm says are interfering with it maple syrup operation.

Under the proposal, the city would agree to discontinue four historic roads that run through a woodland owned by Patch Orchards — Barden Hill Road, Durkee Road, Atherton Road and McCallister Road.

In exchange the Patch family, who operate the farm off Route 120, would create a new trail for recreation and turn it over to the city, as well as an easement where the city could build a small parking access.

The proposal by the Patches is intended as a compromise. The farm has been in litigation with the city since 2021 over the status of the four existing rights of way.

“The family contends that these roads are private property, not public rights of way ... the city contends that these are historical public rights of way,” City Attorney Matthew Decker said at Wednesday’s council meeting.

On Wednesday, the City Council scheduled a public hearing for Aug. 16 to consider the proposal. A member of the Patch family said this week they do not wish to comment publicly at this time.

For over three years, Patch Orchards has asked the city to discontinue public access to the roads across their property because they require the Patches to elevate or remove the maple sap lines that cross the roads in the 950 acres of forested land they purchased in 2017.

The City Council declined the family’s request, voting in February 2021 to reclassify the four roads as Class A trails and to maintain their public access to hikers, equestrians and snowmobiles.

The uncertainty over whether these roads are public or private is because there is no written record of city officials having voted to make these roads public, which Decker said is “the gold standard to establish public rights of way” in the state.

However, the city contends that these roads were made public highways “by prescription” — an informal method in New Hampshire that establishes roads as public if they were continuously used in that manner for at least 20 years.

The Patch family developed this new proposal, in coordination with city staff in February, as a way to settle ongoing litigation.

Under the plan, a new public right-of-way would run from Downer Road to Methodist Hill Road near Interstate 89. This path, which would be built near the existing Barden Hill Road, would be 16.5-feet wide and permit public travel by foot, horse, bicycle or snowmobile.

Patch Orchards would be exempt from a city law on the new trail that prohibits motorized, wheeled vehicles.

The orchard and the city would also share the cost of a surveyor to draw the boundaries of the public right of way.

The town of Enfield, which shares McCallister and Atherton roads with Lebanon, is against the roads being discontinued, as their closure would turn Enfield’s portion of the roads into dead ends, according to town Planning Board members.

At a meeting on July 12, the Enfield Planning Board directed Chairman David Fracht and Rod Taylor, town administrator of land use, to send a letter to Lebanon officials urging the city not to abandon the roads.

Neither Fracht nor Taylor could be reached for comment on Thursday.

Curtis Moodie, a Lebanon resident who lives near Barden Hill Road, said that Lebanon does not appear to gain much from the proposal.

“It seems a shame to me to have the city give away anything,” Moodie told the council. “I understand the Patches are saying they’re giving us something, but in reality doesn’t the city already own all of (these roads)?”

Barbara Hirai, a member fo the Class VI Roads Advisory Committee, said that several residents have raised questions or concerns to the committee about closing the trails.

Hirai suggested that a site walk of the proposed area for the new road “would be helpful to the public.”

On Aug 2, the Lebanon City Council will host an informational discussion of the new proposed road, which will include a presentation on the location and layout.

The public hearing on the proposal will be held on Aug. 16.

Both meetings are tentatively scheduled to be held at 7 p.m. at City Hall.

Patrick Adrian may be reached at padrian@vnews.com or at 603-727-3216.