Lansford Borough residents on Wednesday got an answer about the ownership of roads in the Edgemont section, which came under debate last month.

Council President Bruce Markovich said he did some research into the ownership himself, after the discussion sparked some controversy with residents threatening to put up gates and secede from the borough.

He started with getting the master road maps of Edgemont from John Davis, municipal services supervisor at the state Department of Transportation.

“The roads in Edgemont were added to our Liquid Fuels (roads) in 1965,” Markovich said. “From that point, I got out our 1965 minute book and I found three resolutions … accepting ownership of the roads in Edgemont.”

He then took the information from the resolutions to the Carbon County Courthouse, where he got the deeds for the roads in Edgemont, he said.

“There’s no doubt we own the roads on the west side of Edgemont,” Markovich said.

But the east side is still in question, he said. Council’s minutes from 1966 show that residents from the east side of Edgemont came in and gave the borough a letter. The minutes don’t reflect the contents of the letter, Markovich said.

“We have to research that a little bit more,” he said.

Joe Gentis, who owned and lived on the west side of Edgemont, said he had no attachments, easements or documents on his deed that the borough owned the road.

He believed, as other residents in Edgemont, that the roads are private.

Markovich told Gentis that he is under the assumption that the property owners own the road in front of their houses, just like Kline Alley, but the road was always owned by the coal company.

He read from a deed to the borough, which assigns the previously private thoroughfare known as Edgemont Drive to Lansford for $1.

“We have that for Edgemont Drive. We have that for Edgemont Road. We have it for Dock Street, and we have it for Oak Street,” Markovich said. “All of those roads are signed over to the borough in 1965.”

Gentis said he would like to see the documentation, and had a Right To Know Law request into the borough.

They continued to debate over previous work done by the borough on the east side of Edgemont Drive.

“We still don’t know if that road is public or private?” Gentis asked.

“Not yet,” Markovich said, adding that he needs to do additional research at the county archives.

The borough last month approved getting a price from Brinkash and Associates of Ashland, the borough surveyors, to survey the roads in Edgemont to determine ownership.

After the meeting, Markovich said the borough would probably not move forward with a survey, and he would continue to research the roads.