GENOLA — Voters last week upheld a town ordinance passed in December that allows landowners with 5 acres to divide their rural lots to 2.5 acres — and not count the road.

Proponents of the ordinance argued that another subdivision created earlier allowing 2.5 acre lots didn't include the road, which was put in later. That made the lots smaller than 2.5 acres, town clerk Penny Thompson said.

The vote Tuesday was 267 for keeping the ordinance and 173 for repealing it.

"The ordinance was passed on Dec. 10, and by Dec. 24 I had a petition in for a referendum," Thompson said.

Some property owners don't have enough acreage to split their land if the road is taken into account, she said.

The ordinance also includes a minimum frontage of 200 feet, which can be reduced by calculating the area between the property line and the center of the road if the street is dedicated to the town.

In an argument for the proposition, outgoing Mayor Eric Hazelet said the ordinance allows the state-required road and easement dedications to be taken after the property lines are defined, thus allowing landowners to use all of their land when splitting it.

"You have been paying taxes on that property for as long as you have lived there," Hazelet said. "Doesn't it make sense that all of your property should be used in the calculation for subdividing?"

— Rodger L. Hardy