Here's the scenario:
My client has a piece of property - town of brookhaven NY at the end of a dead end road.
The roadway was built and dedicated in the 70's.
In the 80's the town put up a guard rail halfway down the road, completely blocking off access to my client's property and all other property on the street (NYS owns all surrounding property)
He has a survey from 1996 showing this guard rail.
I have a letter from NYS stating they have no objection to abandoning the roadway.
Recently he tried to abandon the roadway and the town said they did not want to abandon the roadway becuase new york state may need access to their property.
My question is, Highway § 205 says "every highway that shall not have been traveled or used as a highway for six years, shall cease to be a highway, and every public right of way that shall not have been used for said period shall be deemed abandoned as a right-of-way. - See more at: http://codes.lp.findlaw.com/nycode/HAY/8/205#sthash.7gH8JFny.dpu f"
Doesn't this mean the town does not have the right to deny the abandonment claim?
If it were me, I'd run it by Ms. Ayers-
Idaho Code has a similar provision. They later amended it to only impact prescriptive roads. The general consensus among lawyers is the revision didn't change the law, it only clarified it. Formal creation requires formal abandonment..
Lawyer time for that one:-D
Agreed, why not go to a person with more experience who may guide you thru what may not be so simple. The courtroom can be very expensive and may not yield the results you may have thought was a knock-off.
Just report the facts.:-)
The issue is fact based and has been litigated in the past with differing results. The barricade is not conclusive, nor is mere non-maintenance. The central question (absent an official abandonment) seems to be if and how the public uses the roadway.
