ALLAGASH, Maine — After two years, two lawsuits and a local crusade, a piece of Allagash town land that was lost in a controversial land swap deal has been returned to the community.
Last week, the town and a group of residents reached an agreement that reversed the deeds for the land swap and returned everything to how it was prior to 2023, according to Aroostook County Superior Court documents.
“We got a lot of people who saw what happened and didn’t agree with it,” said Allagash Volunteer Fire Chief Louis Pelletier III. “I think that groundswell of town support really helped us. In the end, they decided to nullify the deeds and move on.”
The dispute centered on a tenth-of-an-acre sliver that includes a drainage ditch that residents Bobby and Cindy Hafford had owned since 1978. The ditch portion of the land borders property next to the Allagash Town Office and volunteer fire department.
After allegedly threatening to block fire department access, the Haffords agreed in March 2023 to accept a land swap offer made by the Select Board, which didn’t notify residents or hold a townwide vote on the matter.
In the swap, the Haffords exchanged their tenth-of-an-acre parcel on the side of the fire station and town building for a 1.5-acre piece of the town’s playing field used for events including the Can-Am Crown International Dog Sled Races.
The exchange concerned some residents because they did not want to lose access to the field that was used for local events and was part of the town’s history.
According to Pelletier, it also was not necessary because the fire department was never in danger of losing access to its station because the Haffords’ property did not interfere with the passage of fire trucks.
“It’s a tight turn, but our trucks are not that big,” Pelletier said.
In November, 11 residents — Alison M. Bartlett, Betty J. Gardner, Roy Erik Gardner, Casey J. Hafford, Clayton N. McBreairty, Dale J. O’Leary, Daphne J. O’Leary, John B. O’Leary, Josie M. Pelletier, Mable L. Pelletier and Patricia E. Pelletier — filed a lawsuit against the town in an attempt to reverse the swap.
This was the second time a group of concerned residents filed a lawsuit trying to get the town land back. In 2023, another group of residents tried but failed in Aroostook County Superior Court because they did not sufficiently demonstrate to the court how they were harmed by the swap, the judge said.
Three months ago, the town claimed that the residents who filed the second lawsuit did not have legal standing to challenge the 2023 land swap deal because they were related to some of the original plaintiffs in the first lawsuit.
At the same time, Pelletier and other residents started a group called the Allagash Taxpayers Association on Facebook to get information to the town’s more than 200 residents and to answer questions. Additionally they distributed informational fliers.
“It was a lot of organizing and a lot of hard work,” Pelletier said. “But in the end our town was going to benefit from it.”
Now that the old parcel has been returned, Pelletier said the residents want to put the issue behind them.
“It wasn’t a good time in our little town for sure, but in the end the town has its field back,” he said. “Events can be rescheduled there and after a two year process we got it done. “
