An Act to Clarify the Authority of County Commissioners to Close Roads for Winter in the Unorganized Territories
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1. 23 MRSA §2051, as amended by PL 1975, c. 711, §1, is repealed and the following enacted in its place:
1. Layout, maintenance and discontinuance of roads in unorganized areas. County commissioners may lay out, alter, close for maintenance or discontinue highways within the unorganized areas of their counties and grade hills in such a highway. The county commissioners may close a county road for maintenance and preserve the right-of-way for the use of abutting landowners, any others using that way for access to their property and public utilities and corporations with facilities legally located within that way, at their own risk. At a regular session of the commissioners, responsible persons may present a written petition describing a way and stating that the location, alteration, grading or closing for maintenance or discontinuance of that way, in whole or in part, or an alternative action, is desired. The commissioners may act upon the petition, conforming substantially to the description without adhering strictly to its bounds.
2. Closing roads in unorganized areas for the winter. The county commissioners may close any county road in the unorganized areas of their county under the same conditions and following the same procedure established in section 2953, subsections 1 to 4 for the closure of roads in municipalities by the municipal officers, except that the county commissioners approve the order closing a road and may annul, alter or modify any such order. A copy of the order must be filed with the county clerk or county administrator. Any person may appeal from a decision of the county commissioners to close a county road for the winter in the same manner as provided in Title 17, section 2852.
Effective September 19, 1997, unless otherwise indicated.
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