Case Title: Hansen v. Town of Charleston

Citation: 

Docket Number: 

State: vermont

Court: Vermont Supreme Court

Date: 1991-02-01T00:00:00Z

Document:
NOTICE:  This opinion is subject to motions for reargument under V.R.A.P. 40
as well as formal revision before publication in the Vermont Reports.
Readers are requested to notify the Reporter of Decisions, Vermont Supreme
Court, 111 State Street, Montpelier, Vermont 05602 of any errors in order
that corrections may be made before this opinion goes to press.


                                No. 90-193


David H. Hansen and Miriam                   Supreme Court
Klein-Hansen, Thomas Jensen
                                             On Appeal from
     v.                                      Orleans Superior Court

Town of Charleston                           February Term, 1991


John P. Meaker, J.

James M. Ritvo, Montpelier, and Heather R. Wishik, Northfield, for
           plaintiffs-appellees

William Boyd Davies and Rachel A. Hexter of May, Davies, Franco & Hexter,
  Newport, for defendants-appellants

Glenn C. Howland of McKee, Giuliani & Cleveland, Montpelier, for amicus
  curiae Vermont League of Cities and Towns


PRESENT:  Allen, C.J., Gibson, Dooley, Morse and Johnson, JJ.


     DOOLEY, J.   Defendant, Town of Charleston, appeals from an order of
the Orleans Superior Court reclassifying a section of Town Highway No. 5
from class 4 to class 3.  We affirm.
     Approximately twenty persons, including ten children, live in the five
full-time residences along the section of Town Highway No. 5 involved in
this case.  On no other class 4 highway in the Town are there as many
permanent residences.  The road is seasonably impassable and is gradually
deteriorating.
     Because of the state of the road, the residences do not have year-round
fire or police protection.  The school bus cannot go up the road so that one
disabled child, who lives on the road, must move elsewhere during the school
year in order to get to school.  The road section contains an old Town
cemetery, and from it there are attractive scenic views.
     On September 5, 1988, at least five per cent of the voters of the Town
filed a petition asking that a one mile section of Town Highway No. 5 be
reclassified from class 4 to class 3 so that it would be improved.  The
selectmen held a hearing on November 3, 1988 and on December 8, 1988 issued
a decision denying the petition.  The selectmen relied primarily on a
reclassification policy adopted by the selectmen in 1981.  That policy set
as minimum requirements for a reclassification to class 3 that:  (1)
property improvements on land abutting the road have a grand list value of
at least $200,000 per mile; (2) there be at least three year-round
residences on the road; and (3) the cost of upgrading the road to class 3
standards must be borne by the persons seeking reclassification.  The
selectmen found that the first and third requirements were not met since the
grand list value of the improvements was only $173,000 and the petitioners
were willing to pay only $5,000 of the $50,000 cost to improve the road.
They concluded that the "public good, necessity and convenience of the
inhabitants of the town" did not require a reclassification.
     The petitioners appealed to the Orleans Superior Court, which appointed
commissioners pursuant to 19 V.S.A. { 751.  After a hearing, the commis-
sioners issued a report supporting the decision of the selectmen.  They
found that the anticipated reappraised value of the buildings on the road
would be $207,000.  They also found that despite the presence of full-time
residences on the road, the road was often impassable at times.  They
found, however, that these residences were constructed after 1973 when roads
were classified in the Town and that the residents were unwilling to pay
for the full cost of upgrading the road.  Based on the 1981 policy and the
unwillingness of the residents to provide the $50,000 to upgrade the road,
they concluded that the public good, necessity and convenience of the
citizens of the Town did not require the reclassification.
     The petitioners then entreated the court to reject the commissioners'
report.  After taking evidence, the court did so.  It rejected the
applicability of the 1981 reclassification policy and the determinative
effect of the unwillingness of the petitioners to pay for upgrading the
road, concluding that "fifty thousand is a standard expenditure for this
town or any other small town in Vermont."  It concluded that the "public
good, necessity and convenience as demonstrated by the evidence and the
facts found in these cases do require the reclassification of this segment
from class 4 to class 3."  Acting pursuant to 19 V.S.A. { 302(a)(3)(C), the
court gave the selectmen five years to bring the road up to class 3
standards.  The court did not require the petitioners to pay any of the cost
of the upgrade.
     On appeal, the Town raises four arguments:  (1) the court had no
jurisdiction to reject the report of the commissioners; (2) the court erred
in ordering reclassification without a finding that the Town had employed
discriminatory standards; (3) the court erred in failing to apportion the
costs of the upgrade between the petitioners and the Town; and (4) the
finding that the $50,000 upgrade cost was a standard expenditure for the
Town was clearly erroneous.
     The Town's first argument is that the court could not reject the
commissioner's report.  Although the argument was not raised below, the Town
argues that the error is jurisdictional and can be raised for the first time
on appeal.
     The trial court's jurisdiction is based primarily on 19 V.S.A. {
310(b), which provides that reclassification is subject to the "same
procedures as for laying out highways."  See Gilbert v. Town of Brookfield,
134 Vt. 251, 251,