Lt. Gov. John Rodgers took the stand on Thursday to argue that a stretch of road that goes through his property doesn't belong to the town of Glover — and he’s asking the court to allow him to bar public access to the road while the case is pending.
No decision was made on whether to grant the preliminary injunction because Thursday’s hearing in Orleans County Superior Court, which was scheduled for an hour, ran roughly 90 minutes. The town of Glover wasn’t able to present its evidence or call its witnesses and will do so at a future hearing.
The yearslong dispute at the center of Thursday’s hearing centers on a 3.25-mile stretch of dirt road that goes through Rodgers’ land. Rodgers says the road, known as Rodgers Road, is his property, while the town says it’s owned by the municipality.
“Based on personal knowledge and experience living here for my entire life, that so-called ‘Rodgers Road’ named for my family, exists as two segments of town highway, separated in the middle by a private traveled way,” Rodgers said in an affidavit filed in court. “It has never been a through public road.”
Rodgers told the court on Thursday that his family has owned the land since 1838. Rodgers grew up in the house on the section of road and in 2019, Rodgers bought his childhood home from his aunt and uncle. In addition to living there, Rodgers said his family also runs several businesses, including a farm and cannabis operation.
Rodgers said he didn’t remember the town ever doing work on the road, but that his family did repairs, like replacing culverts. During his testimony, he said that when he was growing up one of his first solo construction projects was using a bucket loader to fill in gravel on the road.
Rodgers, in the lawsuit, said that the town, until recently, didn’t believe they had any evidence that Rodgers Road was a town highway. But now, the town wants to upgrade and improve the road, which would increase traffic, undermine his business interests, and “compromise the quiet enjoyment of their property,” the lawsuit alleges.
When Rodgers' lawyer asked what the effect of the town upgrading the road would be, Rodgers said he believed it would “destroy my farm and my home.”
When Rodgers initially sued the town of Glover this summer, the preliminary injunction asked the court to bar the town from doing any work on the disputed section of road. But Rodgers’ lawyer Michael Tarrant told the judge at the beginning of Thursday’s hearing that they wanted an injunction to bar public access to the disputed section of Rodgers Road.
The town of Glover, in court filings, argued that the Rodgers family has allowed the town to maintain the road for more than 100 years with “nary an objection,” and that the entire length of the road has been on town highway maps since 1932.
The town also says that in 2022, when the Rodgers subdivided the property to give to their son and his wife, they “appeared to be under the impression that the entirety of Rodgers Road was a Town highway.” (Rodgers’ lawsuit says that referring to the subdivided property as being on the town highway doesn’t reflect an intent to give the road to the town and is only "perpetuating wrong information” from the town.)
The disputed section of road is a class 4 road, which towns don’t have a legal requirement to maintain to a certain standard. But the town, in court filings, said lack of maintenance is not an indication of the lack of importance the road has in Glover. Dozens of neighbors, including Rodgers’ uncle, signed a petition asking the town to keep the road public, according to VTDigger.
During Thursday’s hearing, the town’s attorney, Brian Monaghan, asked Rodgers if his parents, or his aunt and uncle had ever barred the public from using the road. Rodgers told him he hadn’t had conversations with them about the disputed section and that he doesn’t talk much with his aunt and uncle.
The lieutenant governor has threatened to close off public access to the 3.25-mile stretch of road. According to WCAX, Rodgers told the Glover Select Board on May 8 that he’d prefer to negotiate with the town so neither side would be forced to “spend a ton of money on lawyers.”
“And if I win, I’m going to shut the road down completely —there’ll be no access,” Rodgers said at the meeting.
Rodgers was elected lieutenant governor in 2024. He switched parties — from Democrat to Republican — for that election. He previously served as a Democrat in both the state Senate and House of Representatives. Rodgers lost his seat in the Vermont Senate in 2020 after missing the filing deadline to be on the ballot and running as a write-in candidate.
During Thursday’s hearing, a surveyor hired by Rodgers’ team also testified that based on her review of town records, there is no official survey or other formal acts that established the disputed section of road as a town highway.
The court hasn’t set a date to continue the hearing. The town of Glover is planning to call several witnesses, including Rodgers’ uncle and municipal employees who’ve worked on the road. Judge Benjamin Battles said the court would find a time to finish the hearing soon.
