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Town planner briefs Select Board on messy Railroad Square rights‑of‑way; board to consult property owners after final charrette report
Summary
Planning staff summarized decades of mixed ownership and unclear easements at Railroad Square, identified portions the town does and does not own, and recommended meeting with roughly five property owners before pursuing a formal road layout or easement acquisitions.
Town planning staff told the Select Board on Tuesday that Railroad Square’s road and right‑of‑way situation is convoluted, with a mixture of private rights, older recorded easements and some town‑owned parcels.
Joseph (planning staff) said his review of records and plans found a 20‑foot private right‑of‑way shown in older deeds and a 1938 select‑board survey confirming Railroad Street (‘‘Napa Alley’’) as a town road. However, the middle portion commonly discussed — from the private‑road sign to Route 3 South — does not clearly meet the four legal methods the town uses to create a public road (layout, prescription, dedication and acceptance, or deeded ownership). A road‑layout effort in 1985 was not finalized, and the town does not appear to be a named party to the private right‑of‑way in many deeds.
Joseph recommended the town first convene informal meetings with impacted property owners to ascertain appetite for easements or a negotiated road layout before spending on surveys or legal action. Board members raised concerns about drainage, maintenance, the number of affected owners (Joseph estimated roughly five), and the risk of creating nonconforming‑to‑conforming property changes if access is formalized.
The board agreed to wait for the final charrette report for additional public input and to consider meeting property owners informally as a next step.
