Oakham Gives Skyline Drive Owners 30 Days to Deliver Deeds or Lose Plowing

OAKHAM — September 2, 2025 — Oakham Select Board threatens to end plowing on Skyline Drive unless road owners produce deeds within 30 days. The board voted unanimously Tuesday to authorize town counsel KP Law — specifically attorney Sherrin Everett — to send a formal notice to the owners of Skyline Drive and Old Schoolhouse Way in the Longview Estates subdivision, warning that the town will not plow the privately held roads this winter unless all required signed deeds and easements are delivered to KP Law within 30 days. The town has spent more than three years and significant legal fees attempting to untangle fragmented ownership among Longview Estates LLC, its predecessor Longview Ocam Sand and Gravel, and abutters who hold fee interest in portions of the roadway. The board also voted unanimously to hire Capital Strategic Solutions for fiber-optic grant management at a cost not to exceed $2,700, split across town department maintenance accounts, to oversee a $172,500 state award with a 5-percent local match. A sustained public comment session raised technical and regulatory objections to a proposed battery energy storage facility, with residents citing concerns about sound modeling at reduced fan speeds and a potential conflict of interest involving a DEP official; a state public hearing on the project is tentatively set for October 16 at Oakham Center School.