‘An Act To Improve the Laws Regarding Abandoned Roads’
| HP1028 LD 1415 |
Session - 129th Maine Legislature C "A", Filing Number H-691, Sponsored by
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LR 1078 Item 2 |
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| Bill Tracking, Additional Documents | Chamber Status | ||
Amend the bill by striking out the title and substituting the following:
‘An Act To Improve the Laws Regarding Abandoned Roads’
Amend the bill by striking out everything after the enacting clause and inserting the following:
‘Sec. 1. 23 MRSA §3028, as amended by PL 2015, c. 464, §7, is repealed.
Sec. 2. 23 MRSA §3028-A is enacted to read:
§ 3028-A. Abandonment of town ways
Beginning October 1, 2020, a town way, or portion thereof, may not be declared discontinued by abandonment unless the municipality or county where the proposed abandoned town way is situated complies with the requirements of this section. A municipality or its officials or a county or its officials are not liable for nonperformance of a legal duty with respect to a town way declared discontinued by abandonment in accordance with this section.
A municipality or county may not declare a town way discontinued by abandonment if evidence is presented to the municipal officers or county commissioners at a meeting held pursuant to paragraph B or a public hearing held pursuant to subsection 4 that the municipality or county received funds for any portion of the town way that is the subject of the discontinuance by abandonment for more than 84 months of the period of 30 or more consecutive years specified in paragraph A.
(1) The affected property owners' maintenance obligations for and right of access to the town way, if any;
(2) The right of access to the town way by the public if a public easement is retained; and
(3) Information regarding the rights of affected property owners to enter into agreements regarding maintenance of and access to that town way, including the right of affected property owners to create private easements.
An easement for public utility facilities necessary to provide or maintain service remains in a town way declared to be discontinued by abandonment regardless of whether a public easement is retained by the municipality or county.
Within 15 days after receiving a written appeal request filed pursuant to this subsection, the municipal clerk or county clerk shall schedule a public hearing on the appeal before the municipal board of appeals or county commissioners and provide written notice of the hearing date to the municipal officers or county commissioners and the person filing the appeal request. The public hearing must occur no more than 30 days after the appeal request is received.
A person aggrieved by the decision of the municipal board of appeals or county commissioners pursuant to this subsection may appeal the decision to the Superior Court in the county where the town way is situated, pursuant to the Maine Rules of Civil Procedure, Rule 80B.
Sec. 3. Effective date. This Act takes effect October 1, 2020.’
Amend the bill by relettering or renumbering any nonconsecutive Part letter or section number to read consecutively.
summary
This amendment strikes the bill. Effective October 1, 2020, it repeals the current statute on the abandonment of town ways and enacts a new abandonment process in statute that a municipality may choose to follow to declare a town way abandoned. The optional process includes notice provisions to abutting property owners, property owners for whom the town way is the only means of access and adjacent municipalities and counties. The optional process provides for a public hearing process and an appeals process. The amendment clarifies that the public easement retained in a town way discontinued by abandonment is limited to rights of access by foot or motor vehicle, which are the limits of public easements laid out by a municipality through its eminent domain powers in the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 23, section 3022.
The fiscal note on this amendment identifies a requirement in the amendment as a potential state mandate with a moderate statewide cost. The committee finds that the provisions identified as a potential mandate do not require a local unit of government to expand or modify its activities so as to necessitate additional expenditures from local revenue. In order to be a mandate pursuant to the Constitution of Maine, Article IX, Section 21, a provision must require a local unit of government to expand or modify its activities so as to necessitate additional expenditures from local revenue.
The requirements in this amendment that a municipality or county provide notice and the opportunity for hearing if the municipality or county takes the step of declaring a town way abandoned does not require an expansion or modification of activities because there is no requirement that a municipality or county abandon a town way or declare a town way abandoned. Additionally, a municipality or county that chooses to abandon a town way may do so under the common law presumption of abandonment recognized by the Maine Supreme Judicial Court since 1916.