Rural road reform heads to legislature
A proposed law before the state legislature would streamline the process for abandoning or discontinuing a road, the Morning Sentinel reported.
Under current law, there is a presumption of abandonment if a municipality fails to keep a way passable motor vehicle use for 30 or more years.
LD 1325, “An Act to Ensure a Public Process When Discontinuing or Abandoning a Public Road,” would eliminate that presumption for ways that have not met that statutory requirement by Jan. 1, 2020. Instead, the bill provides a new discontinuance process, which would be the only means for a municipality to terminate its interests in a public way.
Under the proposed law, the municipality would have to: provide notification of a proposed discontinuance to the abutting property owners; hold a meeting of municipal officers to discuss the proposed discontinuance and whether or not there will be a public easement and any public use restrictions or municipal maintenance and liability responsibilities for the easement; hold a public hearing on the discontinuance; provide an approval of the order of discontinuance by the municipal legislative body; and file the certificate of discontinuance by the municipal clerk in the registry of deeds and with the municipality.
According to the Morning Sentinel, the Maine Department of Transportation and the Small Woodland Owners Association of Maine frequently receive complaints related to the use of abandoned and discontinued roads.
“It’s so unclear and often not a public process,” Tom Doak, executive director of the Small Woodland Owners Association of Maine, said of the rules governing old roads. “The roads just sort of disappear, and under the [current] law that can happen.”
The paper reported that the Maine Municipal Association and the Maine County Commissioners Association have opposed the bill, saying there is not enough funding for the proposed changes, which include the requirement that towns compile a list of abandoned and discontinued roads.
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