Private Roads Reprised

Training for: Legal Notes

We’ve written fairly often here about private roads. For instance, about why it’s illegal – unconstitutional, actually – to spend public funds plowing or maintaining private roads (see “Plowing Private Roads & Driveways Revisited,” Maine Townsman, Legal Notes, November 2003).

But also about the narrow exception to this rule for repair of private roads endangering the water quality of great ponds (see “Private Road Repair at Public Expense OK’d If…,” Maine Townsman, Legal Notes, August 2009).

Then we addressed the question of whether property owners on private roads are entitled to a tax reduction because they don’t benefit from public maintenance (see “Do Abutters to a Private Road Deserve a Tax Break?,” Maine Townsman, Legal Notes, March 2004). The answer, by the way, is no.

We also debunked two myths: One, if a municipality has been plowing or maintaining a private road for a certain period of time, it may or must continue to do so, and two, if emergency vehicles cannot access property due to an impassable private road, the municipality can be held liable (see “Plowing Private Roads,” Maine Townsman, Legal Notes, December 2015).

And finally, although there is no State law requiring that private roads be maintained by their owners or those who use them, we briefly described the statutory process by which abutters to a private road can form a road association to provide maintenance and repairs at their mutual expense and enforce collection of unpaid assessments (see “Private Road Maintenance,” Maine Townsman, Legal Notes, April 2007).

This law was revamped in 2009 and 2014 and is described in detail, together with other alternatives to the statute, in a very helpful “Guide to Forming Road Associations,” prepared by the Maine DEP and available at http://www.maine.gov/dep/land/watershed/roadassociation.htm.

For more on why public maintenance of private roads is impermissible, including legal citations and FAQs, see Chapter 5 of MMA’s Municipal Roads Manual, available free to member at www.memun.org. (By R.P.F.)

We’ve written fairly often here about private roads. For instance, about why it’s illegal – unconstitutional, actually – to spend public funds plowing or maintaining private roads (see “Plowing Private Roads & Driveways Revisited,” Maine Townsman, Legal Notes, November 2003).

But also about the narrow exception to this rule for repair of private roads endangering the water quality of great ponds (see “Private Road Repair at Public Expense OK’d If…,” Maine Townsman, Legal Notes, August 2009).

Then we addressed the question of whether property owners on private roads are entitled to a tax reduction because they don’t benefit from public maintenance (see “Do Abutters to a Private Road Deserve a Tax Break?,” Maine Townsman, Legal Notes, March 2004). The answer, by the way, is no.

We also debunked two myths: One, if a municipality has been plowing or maintaining a private road for a certain period of time, it may or must continue to do so, and two, if emergency vehicles cannot access property due to an impassable private road, the municipality can be held liable (see “Plowing Private Roads,” Maine Townsman, Legal Notes, December 2015).

And finally, although there is no State law requiring that private roads be maintained by their owners or those who use them, we briefly described the statutory process by which abutters to a private road can form a road association to provide maintenance and repairs at their mutual expense and enforce collection of unpaid assessments (see “Private Road Maintenance,” Maine Townsman, Legal Notes, April 2007).

This law was revamped in 2009 and 2014 and is described in detail, together with other alternatives to the statute, in a very helpful “Guide to Forming Road Associations,” prepared by the Maine DEP and available at http://www.maine.gov/dep/land/watershed/roadassociation.htm.

For more on why public maintenance of private roads is impermissible, including legal citations and FAQs, see Chapter 5 of MMA’s Municipal Roads Manual, available free to member at www.memun.org. (By R.P.F.)