By ADAM ATKINSON

CANTON — The county has withdrawn its request to the Town of Canton to open some of their roads to ATV traffic, as part of a larger plan to develop a county-wide contiguous ATV trail.

County Trail Coordinator Deb Christy was originally scheduled to make a presentation to the board at their meeting Wednesday, May 9, but had asked her presentation be pulled from the agenda.

Board members at the meeting still voiced concern over the county’s proposal to open town roads to ATV traffic however.

The original plan, as presented recently in several municipal and county meetings, would incorporate stretches of town highways in municipalities across the county. The road sections, theoretically, would link up to form a long contiguous ATV route to draw in tourism.

The county has now withdrawn their request to open town roads, at least in Canton and at least for now.

The rub for the town councilmen and the supervisor was what they felt was a lack of transparency in the process to establish the trail. Town officials had stated during discussion of the trail system at their meeting last month that they worried the request for “temporary” road openings to ATV riders might become permanent, that the taxpayers living along the roads in question had not been notified of the plan and that there may need to be enhanced public safety requirements and road maintenance. In addition, town board members said the proposed trail map was not being made available to the public until the request for town road use had been approved.

Town Councilman Tim Danehy said that “we have not received any clarity that (the road use request) may return at some point in the future.”

“I think we still have a number of unanswered questions,” Danehy said. Danehy said even though the request had been withdrawn which alleviated some of the town’s concerns about wear and tear on the highways, that there was still public concern over the issue also. “In the absence of information about where exactly this trail, either temporary or permanent, is going I think its something we need to stay on top of.”

Danehy said that if the county’s trail ended up utilizing private land in the town, then there might still be issues with zoning to be addressed.

“There are still a lot of questions, including why it was dropped,” said Councilman Bob Washo. “I’m in favor of the board putting together a letter with a list of our questions . . . to the county and try to get some more clarity about where this is headed.”

“I agree with what was said. I was looking forward to Ms. Christy’s presentation,” said Councilman Phil LaMarche.

Councilman Jim Smith said he understood that there were concerns over the trail, but did not think the town needed to continue to discuss the issue now that the request to use town roads for ATV travel had been withdrawn, unless it resurfaces again. “We could sit here forever discussing what may or may not happen,” Smith said.

“I’m still waiting for answers,” said Town Supervisor Mary Ann Ashley, who also advocated for writing a letter to the county to request more information.