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Maine Alliance for Road Associations

Private Ways Statute, then and now

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  • 10 Jul 2009 5:04 PM
    Message # 193877
    Deleted user
    If anyone is interested in how Maine's Private Ways law has evolved over time, I've assembled the various versions and amendments I have been able to locate online and with the help of the Maine State Law and Legislative Reference Library at http://www.fireroad53.com/MaineLaw/history.html.
    Last modified: 10 Jul 2009 5:04 PM | Deleted user
  • 11 Jul 2009 6:15 AM
    Reply # 194060 on 193877
    Todd, this is a really valuable piece of work that you have done and thank you very much for posting it.
  • 11 Jul 2009 10:18 AM
    Reply # 194095 on 193877
    Deleted user
    It's been helpful in answering a couple of my earlier questions.  Regarding the swearing of commissioners and board members, the 1821 statute is much clearer as the the nature of the oath:

    [...] shall be sworn to the faithful discharge of their respective trusts, as town officers are; [...]

    This makes it pretty clear that the constitutional oath of office should be used, and the oath should be taken before an officer authorized to administer oaths, such as a Notary Public or a Dedimus Justice.

    The original law also had a 50% quorum requirement ("[...] the major part of the proprietors and rightful occupants so assembled shall have full power [...]") which disappeared in the 1954 recodification.  The original text of the second 2007 amendment (LD2102) reinstated a 50% quorum requirement, but this was removed before passage.  Since the Legislature has removed the quorum requirement once, refused to reinstate it later, I think we can can conclude that the Legislature did not intend to require a quorum at meetings of owners.

    Interestingly, another LD2102 amendment which failed would allowed owners to appoint a proxy, but that proxy may not be another owner of a parcel benefited by the road or way. That seemed like an odd exclusion; just as well that it failed.

  • 12 Jul 2009 4:08 AM
    Reply # 194261 on 193877
    Very interesting history. I'd be willing to risk taking that 1824 statute on the nature of the oath as what should be used.

    I remember the 2007-and-after battles. The legislative process is -- well, there really are no words for it.  Well, maybe the old baseball line -- "Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, and sometimes you get rained out." 
  • 13 Jul 2009 3:29 AM
    Reply # 194558 on 193877
    Deleted user
    Todd Tolhurst wrote:If anyone is interested in how Maine's Private Ways law has evolved over time, I've assembled the various versions and amendments I have been able to locate online and with the help of the Maine State Law and Legislative Reference Library at http://www.fireroad53.com/MaineLaw/history.html.
    Thank you Todd, most informative and this is the information we needed for our Association.  Good Job.
  • 13 Jul 2009 3:31 AM
    Reply # 194559 on 193877
    Deleted user
    Now all we need is a clarification as to the stated "parcel of land benefited by the private way"  Does this mean that you have to live on the road that is being repaired.  If you live at the beginning of a four mile road, are you required to pay for repair of the complete road???
  • 13 Jul 2009 5:00 AM
    Reply # 194578 on 193877
    This is an important question. The road association determines by majority vote what the method of assessment is. If their determination uses "use" as the criterion then you will not have to as great a share as those who do not use it as much. 
  • 13 Jul 2009 8:27 AM
    Reply # 194639 on 194559
    Deleted user
    Patricia Dignard wrote:Now all we need is a clarification as to the stated "parcel of land benefited by the private way"  Does this mean that you have to live on the road that is being repaired. 

    No, it only means that the parcel of land is benefited; that is, that parcel has the right to use the road, either by outright ownership of all or part of the road, or by having an easement (right-of-way) to pass over the road.

    In the case of my road, I went down to the town office and got copies of the deeds for each parcel on the road.  I read each deed to confirm that each property had a right-of-way and/or owned part of the road.  Not surprisingly, every property accessed via the road either had a right-of-way over the road or owned part of the road; sometimes both.  I did have to dig into some past deeds to locate the right-of-way for one property which no longer mentioned the ROW on the current deed.

    If you live at the beginning of a four mile road, are you required to pay for repair of the complete road???

    That will be a matter for the owners to decide.  You wiil need to arrive at a method of apportioning expenses which is not only "fair and equitable", as required under the statute, but one which will also win a majority of votes.  If most of your owners live at the far end of the road, it might be difficult to get them to vote for a scheme in which they pay much higher fees than those at the beginning of the road.

  • 16 Jul 2009 3:36 PM
    Reply # 196306 on 193877
    JP
    Our Non-Profit Association has hired the same contractor 2 years for the same project.  The road has washed out on a corner/culvert the cost was $375 per lot (18) owner the 1st year. Last year it again washed out and so did another culvert/driveway entrance and another driveway entrance....the contractor said the road needed grading, he was hired and it cost us $350 per lot owner.  Again this year the same areas as last year are washed out and it has been getting worse every time it rains. We contacted the President and he told us to call the contractor they used last year. Over a month has gone by without any response we are frustrated that the washout has tripled. We hired are own contractor to fix our driveway and our neighbor used the same people to fix his with no expense to the association....out of our own pocket. Now the association pres. is saying we should have gone through the association to have the roads repaired and that he looked at the washout and the contractor wants to charge us again to fix this same washout....its only $200. We find it unreasonable that we have to continue to pay to repair the same road every year.  It is obvious this contractor doesn't know what he is doing.  What can we do to protect ourselves from this unreasonable road repair and the bill we are going to be subjected to again?  Does anyone know what laws are in place to hold this contractor accountable so we don't have to pay him?  We feel he should fix the roads for free it hasn't even been a year since he said the roads were fixed.
  • 17 Jul 2009 11:21 AM
    Reply # 196559 on 193877
    Anonymous
    Todd Tolhurst wrote:If anyone is interested in how Maine's Private Ways law has evolved over time, I've assembled the various versions and amendments I have been able to locate online and with the help of the Maine State Law and Legislative Reference Library at http://www.fireroad53.com/MaineLaw/history.html.


    Todd, 

    Also would like to thank you for this information/link.  Very helpful about how roads are suppose to be maintained and why.  Also the law regarding the cost of repairs cannot exceed 1% of property value. Great stuff, again hats off to you.

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