TUPPER LAKE — The village board in Tupper Lake held a special public hearing Wednesday evening to talk with residents about the possibility of discontinuing Balsam Street, a “paper street” intersecting with state Route 3, which runs adjacent to Raquette River Brewing.

In a packed village hall the co-owners of the brewery and the holders of adjacent property easements met with the board to make a case for if the municipality should release ownership of the street to the brewery.

Mark Jessie and Joe Hockey, the co-owners of the brewery, want to turn the paper street, which only exists on paper, into a paved path leading to the site of a proposed cannery behind the existing brewing location.

Ron Allen Sr., with his son Ron Allen Jr. and daughter-in-law Julia-Anne LaMora, told the board that discontinuing the street would void an easement on two parcels of land they own behind the brewery, off Ottawa Avenue.

They plan on putting two houses on those parcels, as babies are on the way and they need more living space. The 25 foot right-of-way leads to easements and their property that they have lived on for 20 years.

“We are taxpaying citizens also,” Allen Sr. said. “When people buy property, and they have an easement, and there’s other people that want to take it away from them for their own financial gain, that’s wrong.”

Jessie pointed out that Ottawa Avenue, another paper street running parallel to Balsam Street a little bit north on state Route 3, has access to Ron’s easement property. Ron says building from there would increase the size of his road five-fold, and his deed says “the closest road” which he can build from is Balsam Street.

“I’m trying to defend myself and my property and my kid’s property, and I think anybody in this room would do the same,” Allen Sr. said.

A letter from Paul Mitchell of Paul Mitchell Logging, a nearby business, was read at the meeting. The letter said though Mitchell is supportive of Raquette River Brewery and understands the challenges of running a business in the North Country, the sale of Balsam Avenue would have an adverse impact on the Ottawa Avenue parcel the company owns.

Members of the board, Town supervisor Patti Littlefield and Hockey determined that the company can access the parcel through the Ottawa Avenue street.

Littlefield said that with Balsam Street being so short and only serving the brewery and the easements at the very end it did not make sense for the village to continue to maintain the street and the town to plow it.

Hockey also mentioned that Mitchell’s property abuts Underwood Road, a second access point. If Berkley Street — another paper street — were developed, that it would provide another route.

Will Vaillancourt had questions about the brewery’s parking plans. As the brewery’s popularity has shot up, customers have taken to parking on the sides of the street from the Holy Name Catholic Church to Pine Street.

Hockey explained that they plan to build a 140-spot parking lot in the back. Though it is wetlands, they have met with the Adirondack Park Agency to get the project approved and they will have to mitigate the damage by creating wetlands elsewhere in the village.

Trustee Ron LaScala said after seeing how everything has worked out, he wished he went about announcing the possible discontinuation of the street a different way. He wished he had gone to Mitchell before announcing and told him about the plans to hear from adjacent owners. He said he hopes all parties can come to a compromise for what is best for them all.

Village mayor Maroun said they have talked with the Franklin County attorney and that they would talk with the town attorney to look through past paper street cases and laws.

“They are probably the worst thing in the world that was ever created as far as legalese,” Maroun said. “It is a legal quagmire.”