[Massplanners] abandonment of roadway with complications

[Harry LaCortiglia]

Hi Betsy,

Get an appraisal and sell the fee in the road.

Best,
H. LaCortiglia
Georgetown P.B.



On 9/14/2021 4:56 PM, Elizabeth Ware via MassPlanners 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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