Here in NY it is very common to have the title go to the centerline of the roads. It really confuses the land owner on why they can't include the area of the roadway in the lot areas. Most of the time they sell by acreage and want to get the most they can.
When I do a subdivision of a rural parcel when title goes to the centerline of the road, I usually write the new deeds to the centerline, but label areas to the road boundary. I do this for a few reasons, one is the town subdivsion regs usually require showing the areas to the road boundary another would be if a person buys 5 acres and I compute it to the centerline, the county changes the area to exclude the roadway area and it ends up under 5 acres on their taxes, they are not happy. Lastly, if the road ever was abandoned if I excluded the roadway they could not revert back to centerline and a strip of land would be left out of the original title.
Do any of you do subdivision in rural areas where title is to the centerline of the road? How do you handle this?
A) Lot line goes to the center. ROW is an easement and is not taxable.
B) Subdivision Plat dedicates ROW to road authority and lot line is the ROW line.
It's up to the planning and zoning office which way it goes.
Its usually A in our rural areas and B in major subdivision when we are creating a new roadway.
Title In Roadway, Not Always To Centerline
In many rural areas the title line is very different from the current centerline. In that case it is very important to carry forward a precise title location.
Also over time wider right of way has been claimed by the municipality or dedicated by the landowner. Supposing a lot is in a 1 acre zone but is less than 1 acre to the ROW. Gross and net acreage should be on a map of survey to show that the gross 1 acre area makes it a conforming lot by law.
Paul in PA
Title In Roadway, Not Always To Centerline
We do sometimes chase down the record centerlines and shift the boundary to fit. The state roads sometimes have good records of original centerline, but the towns do not have good records and/or can't find yhem and don't want to try.
No Need To Shift Boundary
It is where it is.
The road is where it is.
Paul in PA
No Need To Shift Boundary
Unless it is a highway by statute. Then it's where the record says it is.
No Need To Shift Boundary
Back in my party chief days, I was doing the survey work to split a 50 acre parcel into smaller tracts for an auction. The fellow who owned the tract wanted me to compute the tract sizes to the middle of the road. But the description in his deed was based on a survey done by another surveyor in the area who, for whatever the reason, always placed the road-side boundary on the fence line, wherever it happened to be and he did not include the portion of the property that would have been in the road.
I did not run the chain back because I didn't think it would make any practical difference but I would strongly suspect that the parent deed from which the other surveyor had worked as title did go to the center of the road.
After having had that discussion with the owner the first day I was out there, I came back the next morning to resume laying out the tracts and discovered that the land owner had moved the pins and their witness stakes so that the area would be the same if the half of the roadway was included. He did a pretty good job. Probably better than a lot of people I worked with could have done.
But I have never been certain where that would have stood. The current deed went to the apparent margin of the road. I am certain the previous deed went to the center. If a person only owns what is conveyed to them by the deed, would the previous deed including half the road right of way have any impact by inference?
"Here in NY it is very common to have the title go to the centerline of the roads."
From a liability standpoint that is an absolute disaster. I don't think that I would consider owning a parcel that had a public street crossing it in an easement...
We show the road and let someone else figure that out down the line. How often does the ownership to the center even matter?
I know of two roads in town where the developer retained full fee in the roadway. Big mistake as they have retained the liability and responsibility for maintenance and improvement (no, they were not smart enough to write that into the parcel deeds).
Welcome to PLSSia. Nearly all of our roads are centered on section lines. If you own the southwest quarter of the section and there are roads along the west side and the south side then you have a full mile of half-a-road on what you have been deeded.
Note: Half-a-road is similar to Opie Taylor asking his Pa about half-a-boy.
