Who owns public streets

SUMMARY: A county is statutorily authorized in the sound discretion of the board of county commissioners to close and vacate dedicated roads and streets designated on a recorded subdivision plat. Such authority must be lawfully exercised in the interest of the general public welfare and may not invade or violate individual property rights. The county is not authorized, however, and cannot in any manner legally convey or transfer the ownership and control of the vacated roads or streets to a homeowners' association as such, but upon lawful vacation thereof the abutting fee owners hold the title in fee simple to the vacated roadways or streets to the center thereof unburdened and unencumbered by the public's prior easement to use such roadways or streets for travel.

The county would not be liable to any abutting fee owners as a result of closing or vacating such roadways or streets unless an abutting owner is thereby deprived of and suffers a consequent loss of access to his property.

An abutting fee owner would also have a private or implied easement and cause of action to enforce such easement for access or egress or travel as against the homeowners' association or other abutting owners seeking to obstruct such access and use of and travel upon the vacated, now private, roads and streets. According to your letter, several miles of platted roads or streets in a large subdivision in Hernando County were dedicated to the public and accepted by the county through its approval for recording of the subdivision plat and its acceptance of the dedication of the streets and roads contained thereon.

A property owners' association representing the majority, though not all, of the residents and property owners of the subdivision has requested the county to relinquish its control, ownership, and maintenance of the dedicated streets and roads and turn over this control, ownership, and maintenance to the association in order that it might not only maintain such streets and roads but also restrict access to and within the subdivision to its residents and property owners.

As attorney for the county, you ask whether the board of county commissioners may legally transfer its ownership and control of the streets and roads to the association and, if it does so, whether it will be subject to any liability as a consequence of its actions.

Initially, it is necessary to consider the elements and effect of a dedication. A dedication is simply the donating or appropriating of one's own land for use by the public. That is, the owner of the dedicated property is precluded from using it in any way inconsistent with the public's use thereof. There are two essential requisites to a finding of a dedication of property to the public. There must first be a clearly manifested intent by the owner of property to dedicate it to public use.

Second, the public, through its authorized agents or officials, must clearly manifest its intent to accept the dedication. City of Miami v. Florida East Coast Railway Co. Kendrick, So. An offer of dedication to the public an be accomplished by making and recording a plat and selling lots with reference thereto, the method apparently employed in the instant situation. See, e.

Worley, 38 So. Undercliff Realty and Investment Co. It appears from your letter that the dedication of roads and streets in the subdivision in question was properly accepted by the appropriate county officials and I, therefore, assume that a proper dedication has taken place.

The effect of a dedication does not operate as a grant of the dedicated property but rather by way of an estoppel in pais. That is, the legal title to the property remains in the grantor or his vendees while the public takes the beneficial use of the property. Effectively, then, the fee remains in the grantor or his grantees while the public acquires only a right of easement in trust, so long as the dedicated land is used for the intended purpose of the dedication.

The grantor or grantees--abutting lot owners is precluded from using the property in any way inconsistent with the public use. Burkhart v. If a city or a county actually owns the fee title to the property underlying the right-of-way that is vacated, the city or county would still own it after the vacation, despite the statutory language in RCW Though, the city or county could then sell the property to the abutting property owners, since it would presumably no longer have use for that property.

Exceptions to the general rule: Note that I have been talking about city and county rights-of-way; I have not been talking about state highway rights-of-way. And that is because the state typically owns the fee title to the property underlying the right-of-way for a state highway. See chapter Another exception to the general rule involves acquisition of the fee title to the property, either when a property owner gives or sells property to a city or county for use as a public right-of-way with the clear intent to convey fee title see the quote from the Real Property Deskbook above or when a city or county, by exercise of — or by threat of - its condemnation eminent domain authority, specifically acquires the fee title to the property for use as a right-of-way.

There are also exceptions, when the right-of-way is an easement, to the corollary general rule that the abutting property owners own fee title to the centerline of the right-of-way. In some circumstances, the abutting property owner on only one side of the right-of-way may own the fee title to the property underlying the entire width of the right-of-way.

That was the circumstance in London v. The general rule, however, is subject to control by the particular circumstances of the case when one abutting owner is shown to have had no fee interest in the street and another the entire fee therein. In that instance, the abutter that had no underlying fee interest does not take to the center of the street upon its vacation.

Final thoughts Keep in mind that, even though abutting property owners may own the fee title to the property underlying the public right-of-way, they can only use that property, if at all, subject to the easement for public travel.

You will not receive a reduction in Council Tax if you live in a property on a private street. Council Tax is used to pay for all the services provided, not just for maintaining roads and footpaths.

We do not carry out repairs in streets we do not maintain. If urgent repairs are needed to make the street safe, we may ask you and the other residents to carry them out.

A part private, part publicly maintainable street has mixed maintenance responsibility land along its length.