St. Paul daily globe., 1891-05-02
DALE STREET MUDDLE.
What the City Engineer Says on
the Controversy Between Lot
Owners.

What the City Engineer Says on
the Controversy Between Lot
Owners.
Anent the discussion of the relocation
of the boundary lines of lots in Hol
combs addition, which is stirring up
several hundred property owners Oh st.
Anthony hill, Assistant City Engineer
Joseph H, Armstrong gave his under
standing of the situation to a GLOBE
reporter yesterday. He said:
dale street was dedicated to the city
by the original owner in 1857.
The street is thirty feet wide
on the west side of the government sec
ton line, instead of twenty-seyen
eIs. 1t is thirty-three feet wide on the
east side of that line, making the width
of Dale street SiXty-three feet instead of
sixty feet, as c0ntended by the property
owners. At Marshall avenue the old
fences and sidewalks were practically
thirty feet west of the section line, as
called for by the original plat. At
Laurel avenue the fences and side
walk Oh the west were only 1926 feet
from the section line. At Summit
avenue the distance was 28.03 feet
At intermediate points between Mar
Shall and Summit the westerly line of
Dale street was made TO swing in and
out with the greatest outward Swerve
at Laurel avenue. The original plat
calls for 40.1 feet as the width of lots.
If the improvements are allowed to re-
main as they are Oh st. AlbanS street
and the shortage on the lots prorated
between St.AlbanS and Dale streets the
lots would be left 39.849 wide. If the
shortage should be prorated through to
Grotto street in the line of Laurel
avenue each lot would be left 39X064
feet wide. BY thus prorating
the lots the moving Of fences toward the
west would gradually decrease until st.
AlbanS street, where the lots would
not be materially changed, provided the
lines of St Albans street are not moved
westward. If the loss is prorated
through TO Grotto street, st. Albans
street would have to be moved west
ward two feet, and in that case the re-
moval of property lines would decrease
in distance until the line of the lots on
Grotto would not be moved. AS to
the moving of buildings it would only
require the removal of brick building
at the corner of Hague avenue and Dale
street and two frame buildings at the
corner of Ashland avenue and Dale
street, provided st. AlbanS street IS
not changed. According to the original
survey Holcomb's addition is short at
Marshall avenue 5.57 feet. on Summit
avenue 2.27 feet and at Laurel avenue
3.92 feet. The erroneous line of Dale
street would give the property owners
at Laurel avenue 3.92 feet more
land than they are entitled to ac-
eording to the proper subdivisions.
The change made in the building along
pale street was made in 1883.
An attorney, familiar wish the sub
ject, i'll speaking on the subject yester-
day said: There never was a dedica-
ton of thirty feet west of the sectional
line along Dale street, and witnesses
can be produced to show that fences
stood twenty-seven feet west of the see
ton line as long as nineteen years ago.
HolcOmb's addition as plated does not
fit on the earth's surface. The prop
erty owners on the plat of lots were
given so much ground and they are
entitled to have it if there is
shortage, and the city has as much right
as they to lose the shortage. If the
matter is to be compromised the city
ought to prOrate the shortage with the
lot owners, and the owners west of St.
Albans ought with equal merit to pro-
rate. When Mrs. Sawyer contemplated
bringing the action against Mr.. Smalley
she was offered several times the value
OF the strip claimed by her to forbear
suelng, and her attorney advised her
not to begin the action against HIM.
The opinion was expressed that she
was induced to persist in the action by
a representative of the city.