By Nicholas Brown
Staff Writer

As members of Allenstown’s planning board recently declared “aye” to unanimously accept the deeds to the controversial Jillerick Road, their voices were matched by some enthusiastic “ayes” emanating from the public gathered at the board’s Wednesday, March 15, meeting.

“I’m very happy,” said Jan Mousseau, who lives next to Jillerick Road, off Route 28. “I’m sick of looking through my window every morning and seeing a pile of dirt.”

A 250-foot egress connecting Route 28 to the residential Riverside Park Drive, Jillerick Road has been mired in controversy since last year – culminating in developers gating off the drive, leading to roadside debates and informal accusations between residents, developers and town officials.

The road was built in 1989 as a kind of cooperative project among Riverside Park residents. Over the years, the dirt road has served as an emergency access route, and as an escape route during heavy rainfalls, when Riverside Park Drive is prone to flooding.

Town Meeting voters accepted the road in 1990, but some key paperwork seems to have been lost in the shuffle, leaving the road as a private driveway, which until the recent deed acceptance was owned by developer PAL Custom Homes.

PAL owned three contiguous lots, one of which contains a stretch of Jillerick. Last July, PAL came before the planning board, proposing a lot-line adjustment to increase the size of two lots, and offering to give the smaller third lot – on which the road sits – to the town.

Then, for several months until now, the deal between the board and PAL then, “fell by the wayside,” said PAL representative Richard Paris. PAL now plans to build two single-family homes on the two lots – as it intended last year.

As a gesture of appreciation to Paris and PAL, planning board Chairman James Rodger offered to waive application processing fees and associated legal fees incurred by the town during the Jillerick Road saga. The board voted 3-1 to excuse PAL from covering the normal expenses.

“My feeling is: Let’s get this done and over with,” said Rodger, who suggested PAL could have had some credibility in court if the developer wanted to pursue building on the third lot.

“I think this is the best compromise Allenstown could ever get out of this.”

Rodger estimated that the town’s expenditures would total “a couple thousand” dollars. Perhaps most pleased that the Jillerick controversy appears squelched are Riverside Park Drive residents, who for months have been living next to a dormant construction site.

“I can’t wait for them to start building,” said Mousseau. “I want it to look nice again.”