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Property owner says town's 2014 road discontinuance is unclear and warns of litigation
Summary
Resident Clyde Fowler told the selectboard he will add Chelsea to ongoing lawsuits if the town cannot provide written clarification of a 2014 order discontinuing Birmingham Road and whether private easements and damages were addressed.
At the meeting, property owner Clyde Fowler sought written clarification of a 2014 order that the town recorded removing the public easement on Birmingham Road and said uncertainty over whether private easements were also extinguished has harmed property transactions.
Fowler asked the selectboard for documentary proof of what the town intended in 2014 and repeatedly pressed for an answer about damages. "When I leave this meeting I'm going to take it as you guys did it wrong and I'm going to add the town of Chelsea to this lawsuit," Fowler said. He told the board the unresolved issue had affected a pending purchase offer and estimated the value impact could be significant.
Board members said their records show a 2014 order of discontinuance recorded at the registry of deeds and that the order states the municipality would have no obligation to maintain the road and the public would not retain a right to use it. The chair and other trustees said they cannot unilaterally reinterpret or reverse prior discontinuances and offered to have the town attorney examine the record and provide a legal opinion. The board also suggested counsel for both sides could confer but noted that lawyers and judges sometimes reach different conclusions, and that litigation is a possible outcome.
The chair asked the manager to compile the relevant records and to have the town attorney provide a written opinion for Fowler and the board; no legal determination or vote was taken at the meeting.
