City surveyor reviews how Springfield acquires, holds and disposes of streets

Springfield City Surveyor Jeremy gave City Council a 90-minute primer on the legal and historical mechanics of public streets, telling members that public rights of way are often easements rather than fee title and describing how the city acquires and can divest street property.

Jeremy opened the presentation by noting the scale: “1,108,800. That is a big number. That represents 120 centerline miles of streets we have here in Springfield,” and urged councilors to consider whether “a street [is] a liability, or is it an asset?”

The surveyor said public streets are generally “dedicated or granted to the city and usually held in trust by the city.” He reviewed common categories of land interest, said the city commonly uses both appurtenant easements (which benefit another parcel) and easements in gross (which benefit an entity such as the city), and contrasted those with fee title. He explained that an easement in gross tied to the city…