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Hi Betsy,
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An interesting challenge that sparked my interest since I used to work in southern Illinois coal country, many moons ago. I think you first need to get an appraisal of the value of the land that comprises the public roadway. The appraisal should provide three values, the total value; the value of the land by itself with no mineral rights; and the value of mineral rights. This will then give you and your Select Board a value framework, so you can make good decisions.
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There are probably two approaches. They are:
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<li>The Town to retain ownership of the public roadway and sell the mineral rights. This would be done in accordance with procurement standards. The Town could use a 30B procurement process and detail expectations for the mineral right sale, as to timing of mineral extraction, and how a prospective bidder must return the landscape following extraction. The 30B process would allow a qualitative review of proposals. Following mineral extraction, the Town would still own the public roadway area, and it would be restored. You might want to make sure that the restoration occurs with some type of bond or guaranty. The restoration requirement could be part of the sales agreement or a part of permitting depending upon your regulations as to quarries and mineral extraction. This option enables the Town to still have a potential public roadway when quarry operations cease, say in 30+ years, or abandon the road at any time in the future. You could also lease the public road (I believe) to the private owner. Again, another procurement. <br></li>
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2. The second option is for the is for the Town to separate its mineral rights from its public roadway ownership. This would require careful drafting by an attorney with experience in mineral rights. Any separation of the ownership of mineral rights from land needs to also provide for a right to access the mineral rights (and the related conditions). The Town could then opt to abandon the public roadway as a surface land ownership, and still retain the mineral rights. The Town could at a subsequent time, sell its mineral rights using standard procurement.
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Good luck. It requires a fair amount of work, either way.
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Kathy McCabe
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<strong><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #184930; font-family: tahoma,arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Kathleen McCabe, </span><span style="font-family: tahoma,arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: #184930;"><span style="font-size: small;">FAICP <br></span></span></span></span><a href="mailto:McCabe@Plan-Do.com"><span style="color: #184930; font-family: tahoma,arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: medium;">McCabe@Plan-Do.com</span></a><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: tahoma,arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: #184930;"><u> <br></u>McCabe Enterprises <br></span></span></span></strong>
<span style="font-family: book antiqua,palatino;"><span style="color: #008000;"><strong><span style="font-family: tahoma,arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: #184930;"><span style="font-size: small;"><em>Community Planning & Economic Development <br></em>12 Primrose Street <br>Boston, MA 02131 USA <br>617 469-9444, voice </span></span></span></strong></span></span>
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<span style="font-family: book antiqua,palatino;"><span style="color: #008000;"><strong><span style="font-family: tahoma,arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: #184930;"><span style="font-size: small;">617 469-1765, fax</span></span></span> </strong></span></span>
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On September 14, 2021 4:56 PM Elizabeth Ware via MassPlanners <massplanners@masscptc.org> wrote:
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Bookman Old Style',serif;">Okay,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Bookman Old Style',serif;">I have a Friday question that I am asking on a Tuesday.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Bookman Old Style',serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Bookman Old Style',serif;">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.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Bookman Old Style',serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Bookman Old Style',serif;">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.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Bookman Old Style',serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Bookman Old Style',serif;">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.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Bookman Old Style',serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Bookman Old Style',serif;">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.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Bookman Old Style',serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Bookman Old Style',serif;">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.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Bookman Old Style',serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Bookman Old Style',serif;">I’d love to hear thoughts and suggestions regarding this issue.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Bookman Old Style',serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Bookman Old Style',serif;">Thank you, </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Bookman Old Style',serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Bookman Old Style',serif;">Betsy Ware</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Bookman Old Style',serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Bookman Old Style',serif;">Director of Community Development</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Bookman Old Style',serif;">Town of Dracut, MA.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Bookman Old Style',serif;">Tel: 978-453-4557</span></p>
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