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Background Every year by February 10, municipalities are required to file a current Certificate of Mileage with the Town Clerk and Vermont Agency of Transportation, which is the basis for financial aid the town receives from the state for the maintenance of town roads. Act 178 in 2006 required that ALL class 1, 2, 3, and 4 town highways and trails appear on the town highway maps by July 1, 2015. After 2015, any unobservable "unidentified corridors" not mapped, in effect, will no longer exist and the public has no further claim to that right-of-way.
This sunsetting of non-mapped town highways is intended to bring relief to property owners who may, in fact, have such a right-of-way established over 100 years ago on their land that was not found on map or in a title search. It would also eliminate potentially important pre-existing public rights-of-way that could be community assets if known today. This could become a very sensitive matter to parties on either side of the issue. Act 178 placed a challenge to communities to identify these potential rights-of-way and provided a window of time to decide whether to retain or abandon them. Act 178 also created a new form of town highway, "unidentified corridors," that come into being on July 1, 2010 that: (i) have been laid out as highways by proper authority through the process provided by law at the time they were created or by dedication and acceptance; andThe statute goes on to describe the finer points associated with "unidentified corridors." Ancient Roads Grant The Town of Waitsfield received a grant in 2007 to study and map potential ancient roads. The intent was to gather information to understand what non-mapped public rights-of-way may exist--if any--so that informed decisions could be made. If any were found, the Town could choose to weigh the merits of whether to pursue retaining them--or not. The grant called for the creation of a committee to do the bulk of the work, but efforts to bring such a committee together were not successful. And time passed. Work got under way, however, in June 2009 when the Center for Community GIS of Farmington, Maine was hired to research and map potential ancient roads. They were selected because they offered the ability to conduct the research and mapping in a short period of time. They were directed to focus on the Northfield Ridge part of town because the grant deadline of mid-July 2009 was fast approaching. CCGIS staff compiled and geo-referenced numerous digital historic maps to identify potential historic highways. Joel Alex of CCGIS then spent a full week pouring through land records, reading histories, interviewing knowledgeable citizens, walking some roads, and spending time at the VTrans office in Montpelier. He took his notes back and produced a binder containing his findings. The bulk of their research is made available here. CCGIS identified nine corridors that may qualify as ancient roads. These are represented on the Ancient Roads Map and outlined in detail from the above links. The Waitsfield Ancient Roads Map indicates that five of those nine were "unobservable," which is one of several criteria for being an unidentified corridor. According to Joel Alex of CCGIS, he determined if a road was observable if he either saw evidence of the road himself or was told by Glenn Town or someone else that the road was visible. Those labeled "unobservable" were roads that his interviews and research led him to believe there is probably not very much if any "observable evidence" that a road existed there. Pent roads, for example, were probably not well maintained or used only by a few people and therefore after a hundred years there may be little to no physical evidence they ever existed. An ad hoc committee of citizens knowledgeable of Waitsfield's history and road policies was convened to review the CCGIS's findings. Below are some of their findings and conclusions: • Road 1: There was recollection of an action the Town may have taken within the last 20 years to relocate the right-of-way. This would require further research.Schedule There is a 45 day notice and hearing requirement for adding a town highway that is not "clearly observable" on the Certificate of Mileage sworn statement [19 V.S.A. §305(d)]. There is also a 14 day notice to affected property owners prior to inspection by the Selectboard - or its designee - to determine whether the highway is clearly observable by physical evidence of it existence [19 V.S.A. §302(a)(6)(B)]. These do not apply to already existing, but non-mapped, observable potential ancient roads. Week of December 1: Notify property owners in writing of the Selectboard's intent to inspect the potential unidentified corridor on their property.After these dates, towns can still add, reclassify, and modify the town highways shown on the General Highway Map; however, the standards of documentation are greater and the municipality may need to pay compensation for new rights acquired. Options / Next Steps Go / No Go. The Selectboard would decide whether it wishes to pursue adding any, some, or none of the identified rights-of-way to the General Highway Map. Prioritize: As the timeline above points out, the decision would need to be made very soon whether the Selectboard wishes to add any potentially unidentified corridors to the General Highway Map as a class 4 road by February 10, 2010. Only roads 4, 5, 6, appear to fall into this category. As it is currently understood, observable, but non-mapped class 4 roads can be added after that date up until 2015, following the procedures outlined in Title 19, without the obligation to compensate the property owner or going through the laying-out process defined in state statute. (Reference made to not compensating property owners is not meant to deprive property owners of just compensation, but is based on the premise that the municipality already owns the interest. After 2015, that will no longer be the case.) Goals: The Selectboard should consider what goals or public purpose(s) would be achieved with the addition of the right-of-way on the General Highway Map (e.g., recreation, access to public land). Impacts: The Selectboard should consider potential impacts to the property owner. If a right-of-way is found to be an important asset but would negatively impact the property owner if made publicly accessible, alternative alignments could be negotiated and achieved through the laying-out process defined in the state statute. Further Research: Determine which roads, if any, warrant further research and consider allocating funds for technical assistance. Links (Documents and outside links will open in a separate window)
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Updated December 11, 2009
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