[Massplanners] abandonment of roadway with complications

[Alan Pease]

I'm not an attorney but my understanding is that with most municipal roads
the municipality only "owns" a right of way. This right of way includes the
right for the public to pass and the right to install utilities. When the
municipality discontinues a road it abandons those rights and the property
owner. usually the abutters, regain use of the land unencumbered by that
right to pass and install utilities. The municipality has nothing to sell
as it never "owned" anything other than a right of way. There are
occasional exceptions to this where the municipality owns the land under
the road (owns the fee) but this is rare.Road law is arcane and can depend
on when and how the road was accepted by the municipality. You should seek
advice from your town counsel.

On Tue, Sep 14, 2021 at 4:59 PM Elizabeth Ware via MassPlanners <
massplanners at masscptc.org> wrote:

> Okay,
>
> I have a Friday question that I am asking on a Tuesday.
>
>
>
> The town has several graveling/quarrying operations in town.  One operator
> would like to expand his quarry south of an existing town street and
> eventually assume the ownership of the street, for public safety reasons.
> The street layout is 50’ in width by about ½ mile long, resulting in about
> 3 acres of land within the roadway right of way.  The quarry owner is
> willing to construct about 1-1/2 miles of roadway to relocate the existing
> road layout that he would like to take over.
>
>
>
> I suspect that the expansion of the quarry will not be an issue.  It will
> be carefully reviewed and is subject to a special permit.
>
>
>
> The road right of way requires a town meeting vote to abandon, which would
> give the quarry owner, who owns both sides of the street, the rights to the
> center line of the roadway……………..but there’s more.
>
>
>
> The land below the roadway (3 acres of it!), is shown on the quarry
> owner’s plans to be quarried, therefore appears to have some value in
> mineral rights.  So, if the town is abandoning the roadway, it looks like
> the town is giving the quarry owner three acres times the depth of quarry
> in granite mineral rights.  Nope, we can’t give that away ……….it wouldn’t
> look good, would appear to show preference to the quarry owner and doesn’t
> follow the procurement laws of the town “selling” something.  Our
> procurement officer has never encountered a situation this quirky.
>
>
>
> As permit ombudsman, I’m trying to figure out the most logical and
> efficient steps to permit the quarry expansion, but it gets a little
> complex with the mineral rights issues.
>
>
>
> I’d love to hear thoughts and suggestions regarding this issue.
>
>
>
> Thank you,
>
>
>
> Betsy Ware
>
>
>
> Director of Community Development
>
> Town of Dracut, MA.
>
> Tel: 978-453-4557
> --
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> MassPlanners at masscptc.org
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>


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