[Massplanners] ANR frontage along a right-of way through old subdivision lots

[Gisela Walker]

Please help: we continue to be plagued by these old paper subdivisions. Lots were laid out and sold without ever building out the subdivision. They left behind more or less built up access ways which lot owners now need to claim as frontage for ANRs. 
One such now is an approved ( in 1981)  50 ft wide Right -of- Way across 4 lots and dead ending in a turn- around on the last lot. The R-o-Way is in decent shape as a gravel road that can be refurbished. 
The owner of the last lot wants to build a house.
Question: Can you claim ANR frontage on a right-of-way across several other lots? and Can a dead end turn around serving 5 other lots be located exclusively on one such lot, and can the lot owner claim his frontage to be the circumference of the right of way?

Thank you so much for any feedback. We have never processed a real subdivision in this town…

Gisela Walker
Charlemont Planning Board


24 Windy Hill Road
Shelburne Falls MA 01370
413-625-2401