Road cuts through lots ...
This should be a fun one.
So Dan,
you got some historical photos showing how long its been there, and a statute for prescriptive r/w's? With both, that should be conclusive.
> This should be a fun one.
Unless those killjoys at Iowa DOT actually show ties to the now-vanished lot corners on the right-of-way map they prepared when the highway was located and actually did a good job of monumenting the new right-of-way line, that is. Let's hope not, shall we?
Edit: Oh, you're marvelling at what looks like just a bladed gravel road that cuts the corner of the lots. Can't imagine that the local government wouldn't be interested in moving the road to where they actually have the right to maintain it.
1950's Photo:
1990's Photo:
Good research, Dan.
If you overlay the image in cad, it's been in the same place all these years?
Do you guys have a statute that addresses this situation?
Does that make it a slam-dunk, are are there complications?
Thanks,
Steve
Well, it isn't like the north side had some expensive structure on it to prevent relocating the road back to where it was.
What is the multi-sided figure south of the intersection? My guess is a temporary grain storage area, but am not sure. Google Earth wasn't much help in identifying it, although it does show that it was put there between 1997 and 2005.
The mystery thingy is, in fact, a temporary storage unit most likely used for grain as it adjoins an elevator complex. These are extremely common in the drier parts of the country. Not nearly so common in high moisture/rain/snow areas. There are braces sidewalls maybe six to ten feet tall designed such that the dead weight on them prevents sliding from lateral loads. The angle of repose of the type of grain stored determines the total height that can be achieved at the center of the somewhat conical pile.
BTW, the total dollar value of the grain stored at that site could be more than the real value of the remaining structures in that little town.
> The mystery thingy is, in fact, a temporary storage unit most likely used for grain as it adjoins an elevator complex.
So, a good question would be whether what looks like a public street pavement isn't better described as a driveway for grain trucks that the public uses when the elevator isn't in operation. I'd think that the truck traffic to and from the facility is what has probably shaped the roadways as much as anything.
I would almost bet that the grain company owns on both sides of the unpaved roadway. Before they get too pushy with the town council they should note that they have grain bins built halfway into a street to the northwest.
> I would almost bet that the grain company owns on both sides of the unpaved roadway. Before they get too pushy with the town council they should note that they have grain bins built halfway into a street to the northwest.
Cow, I sure don't see it in the most current imagery that Dan posted. But even it if were, where is the benefit in not getting a mess like that straightened out?
We have several areas like this in Lawton where subdivisions were created then never really turned into subdivisions and tended to become industrial locations because of the ready rail nearby. That certainly looks to be the case in the picture and likely the road is only used by the grain elevators and those doing business with them and not really a public road since it really goes no where.
In Lawton many of these roads were 'closed' but not vacated. In Oklahoma our city council can vote to close a road and the record is kept at the city but not often filed because it can be re-opened with another vote. Only when they do through the process at the district court level to vacate the road does it divide among the attached lots and is no longer a road.
I would spend some time looking for possible council agenda items that might have closed this road. And sometimes our vacation records are in the journal entries at the courthouse instead of the deed room.
Just a thought since I've dealt with a lot of these that turned up records in other places.
Deral
Don't forget that Iowa recently passed a 'boundary by acquiesence' law that may make the occupation the determining factor in fixing the location of boundaries.
What does your state laws say about replats?
Richard Schaut
RS-I would bet dollars to donuts that any law would not apply to platted and accepted roadways.
I was wondering if it is fact a public street.
Some private roads are named, but maintained by the land owner.
> Road cuts through lots ...
You see encroachment on private property. I see private use of the right of way.
In order to have a prescriptive claim you need to have a claimant. It looks to me like the only user of the roadway may be (agents of) the owners of Block 2. In fact, instead of adverse use of a portion of Block 2 by the public, you may have an equally strong case for reversion of the right of way to the adjacent private property owners.
It looks to me like Madison St goes through for several blocks (see 1990 photo) so is probably not just used for grain trucks. In fact, the current Google Earth photo of the area suggests to me that many people coming from the SE to the town would use that road.
I don't see what the problem is. Show an acreage within the road as being used and set the corners in the road. This is something we have in East Texas quite often. Show what is right, have him take it to the city/county or whatever and tell them to quit have their traveled path across his yard. End of story.
Without the survey, no one probably even knows it exists like this. Most municipalities will fix the problem.
You can't fence a road off, even if you own it, but you can fence off what is your and make the road go back to it's original platted position.
A nice pipe fence should do wonders for keeping people from traveling across it.
I've got 100 things (well, okay, maybe 5 things, but it seems like 100) going on today. Some of which being research into this survey. I will get on later this evening and post some more information.
Dan
A description of your scope of work would be helpful.
Some people seem to think the alignment of Madison Street is going to change as a result of your location of the existing gravel roadway. I was thinking that the fun of the survey would be staking the record location of the blocks so that the ROW would be obvious on the ground.
If your scope of work is to, in fact, locate the gravel driveway for a realignment of Madison Street, it would be interesting to hear how that process works in your neck of the woods.
> I don't see what the problem is. Show an acreage within the road as being used and set the corners in the road. This is something we have in East Texas quite often. Show what is right, have him take it to the city/county or whatever and tell them to quit have their traveled path across his yard. End of story.
>
> Without the survey, no one probably even knows it exists like this. Most municipalities will fix the problem.
>
> You can't fence a road off, even if you own it, but you can fence off what is your and make the road go back to it's original platted position.
>
> A nice pipe fence should do wonders for keeping people from traveling across it.
Kris,
that is exactly what I was thinking too... That's the way I'd approach it here.
