Official City map vs iron pins
Please help! What dictates the actual Right-of-Way in a city? The official city map, dated early 1900's says a 60' ROW. However, there are iron pipes on our road that indicate a 50' ROW. The city council minutes show precedent that if there were changes in ROW (or offsetting the ROW, or vacating a street, etc) that it was voted on by the city council, and the historical minutes show that the ROW on this street was never changed. So, which is correct, the pins or the official map? Please note that I have consulted with/hired 2 different surveyors, and they disagree on which is correct. I have tried to find case-law to answer this, and I have been unable, so far, to find anything. Can anyone help me with this issue?
If the early 1900's map shows the ROW to be 60' and there is no recorded action vacating portions to make it 50', the early 1900's map controls, despite where the pipes are.
That's pretty clear, you can't claim adverse possession against a governmental agency.
Were the pipes marking the lot boundaries, that resulted in a fifty foot right of way, set by the original surveyor? I'm not sure that a judge would ignore original monuments over plat dimensions. I was involved with a survey where the best evidence of the road's location came from monuments set shortly after the first lot on the block was occupied. It was a fact that the original surveyor did not set the monuments that ended up controlling the RoW width. In that case, however, there was no physical evidence of an alternative road width. If you have a hodge-podge of monuments marking fifty or sixty foot widths along the RoW in question, I doubt the same conclusion would be drawn. This would be an expensive survey if you contacted me, as I'd want to scour both sides of the road in a search for any evidence dating back to the original layout of the block. It's likely that you won't find a definitive answer and I'd be skeptical of those who profess to have one.
Even if you payed thousands of dollars to have a professional surveyor gather detailed evidence that supports a fifty foot RoW, the particular judge might ignore it and go with the sixty foot width. I doubt a higher court would hear an appeal to this.
If I lived on such a street, I would design and build expensive structures with the assumption that the sixty foot RoW holds. I'd hedge my bet by openly occupying (maybe a concrete pad for my bird bath) right up to the fifty foot RoW line. If resolving this was paramount, I'd play politics before I litigated it.
.
I'm curious as to how deep the lots are adjoining the RW. For instance are they supposed to be 200 feet deep but monumented at 205 feet?
Thank you, and I am not trying to adversely possess any land. I am only trying to find out what, in the end, legally determines the right-of-way/point of beginning. Do you happen to know of a court case, proving that indeed, the city map is what should, in the end, be followed? Or maybe a surveying textbook stating such?
As far as who put in the pins - there is really no way to know. In fact, they are even off a bit, so may not even be pins. The original surveyor did not put them in, I would think, because they are not on every block. And, some are where old buildings and fences were at one time. Some could really just be old iron fence posts that were cut down or something.
If the city map was filed back in the early 1900's and there is nothing to indicate that the pipes found are original, the map is going to prevail as it would have to have been adopted by the city before being filed.
When I mentioned adverse possession, my intent was that you can't take public lands, or change the mapped of make a conversion from 60' to 50' without the official action of the city to abandon the 10' difference.
Thank you for your help. However, I still desperately need some kind of proof that the city map prevails, in order to show the others on my street. Is there a textbook that might have this info? Or a previous court ruling? Otherwise, it looks like this might get escalated to a lawsuit, and I am trying to help prevent that.
Consider the possibility that you may not be looking at the correct map, or, you are looking a map that superseded a previous version, maybe with a different street name or something like that.
For what it is worth, my street is 60 feet wide to allow for sidewalks on both sides. Other streets in the neighborhood are 50 feet wide and do not have sidewalks. Your mileage may vary.
Fact is that this sort of situation, while not unheard of, is not particularly common. And there are good legal arguments to be made on both sides. Personally, I lean to the stated 60 foot width, but there are a lot of local details that could change my mind.
I'd be looking at some of the things already mentioned by others plus what width other similar area roads, dedicated around the same time, used.
We have professional surveyors involved. They all agree it is the correct map, the correct road, and that the right-of-way shown on the map is 60'. The disagreement, is about if the map or the iron pipes (that may or may not be old survey markers) rule the final outcome.
Honestly, I do not care so much which way this falls. I am just trying to keep peace on my street and in my town, and need some hard proof of the correct answer to try to resolve the situation.
