PHILLIPSTON — Paul Debasitis, who owns a barn that sits on 12.4 acres on Searles Hill Road, asked the town to assign it a street address so he can get electricity to the structure.
Reginald Haughton Jr. of the Board of Assessors said the board cannot assign a house number until Debasitis obtains a building permit, has a well and septic design in place and has a water percolation done.
“We don’t assign house numbers to sheds,” he said during a recent Board of Selectmen meeting.
Debasitis plans to renovate the barn and build on the cellar hole there.
“I lived there 36 years ago,” he said, noting he has been back in Phillipston for two or three months, coming from Texas.
Debasitis also noted Searles Hill Road has been blocked off.
“The GPS shows there is still a road there,” he said. “I don’t know why they blocked it off. I don’t want a dead-end street.”
He said the road used to be known as Old Worcester Road, and served as part of the road from Springfield to Boston.
Highway Superintendent Rick Tenney said the road was blocked off many years ago, “long before my time.” He believes the town was asked by a relative to block it off because the road kept washing out. The family paid for gravel, which the town helped lay down to raise the road. The town also installed the 6-foot-high wall made of large boulders there.
“The road is not maintained,” said Tenney. “It’s an old cart road that is grown in.”
Selectman Terry Dymek recalled there was some agreement between Debasitis’ parents (William and Helen) who owned the land, and the highway department. Debasitis argued that his mother made a complaint about it “years ago.” He said his parents wanted the road tarred, “but the town said ‘no.’” Debasitis said he plans to build houses on the land, “the town will profit off that.” The land has a $53,300 assessed value.
Dymek said the Selectboard will research the property’s history and speak with the highway department about it.