Abandoned Roads: Not Abandoned Yet

This week, the Legislature will hold a public hearing on LD 1415, “An Act to Improve the Laws Regarding Discontinued and Abandoned Roads.” The status of formerly maintained public roads has been (and almost certainly will continue to be) perennially and vociferously debated at the Statehouse. Few issues coming before the State and Local Government Committee raise emotions like former public roads do. Nor are few issues so repeatedly and substantively revisited by the Committee.

Under current law, a presumption of abandonment exists if a municipality fails for a period of 30 or more years to keep a way passable for the use of motor vehicles at the expense of the municipality. LD 1415 eliminates that presumption for ways that have not met that statutory requirement by January 1, 2020, and instead specifies that the only process that a municipality may use to terminate its interests in a public way is through the discontinuance process established in 23 M.R.S.A. section 3026-A.

The public hearing on this bill is scheduled for 11:00 am on Wednesday, January 29, 2020, in the State and Local Government Committee Room.