Livermore officials are considering taking the 3,280-square-foot parcel, center, owned by Sherry L. Estes and Mark A. Luse for a turnaround for plow trucks and buses. A hearing on the issue will be held 6:30 p.m. Thursday in the Spruce Mountain Primary School cafeteria. Submitted photo

LIVERMORE — A public hearing is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Thursday to discuss taking land at the end of Butter Hill Road for a turnaround for plow trucks and buses.

The meeting will be held in the cafeteria at Spruce Mountain Primary School on Gibbs Mill Road.

Sherry Estes and Mark Luse have owned the property since December 2018. The town is seeking to obtain about 3,280 square feet of it by eminent domain.

The law gives a government or its agent the right to appropriate private property for public use, with payment or compensation.

Administrative Assistant Aaron Miller said Friday that the town has been working on this for years, but he first did Nov. 24, 2020 — three months after he was hired on Aug. 24, 2020.

The owners have installed two posts and a cable across the road at the mouth of the turnaround, he said.

“With the obstructions at that location, the snow is in line with her driveway,” he said. “Additional snow would encroach on her. It creates a safety concern not only for the general public but for the Estes family as well.”

Having the turnaround would mean a loader doesn’t have to be brought there after every storm to remove snow, Miller said.

At the Jan. 18 selectpersons meeting, board member Brett Deyling said that over the 20 or so years the town has maintained the road, “the property lines have gotten lost or skewed, so that there’s no real identification of where the town’s property ends and other people’s property begins.”

The original draft of the new map would have assumed 2,100 square feet. Deyling amended the map to add about 1,225 square feet.

Deyling said he could see the landowner putting up a fence to establish a property line if they didn’t further extend the town’s property.

“We need enough space to get our trucks turned around if we’re going to do this,” he said.

“No one likes the idea of taking property by eminent domain,” Miller said. “This is a turnaround the community needs to be able to use.”

After the hearing, selectpersons will meet to vote on an order necessary for taking land by eminent domain and have the town attorney draft a warrant, Miller said. A special town meeting is expected at 6:30 p.m. Feb. 15 in the primary school cafeteria.

Estes has hired attorney Jack Clifford to represent her, Miller said.

Attempts to reach him for comment were not successful.