2023 Maine Revised Statutes › TITLE 23: TRANSPORTATION › Part 3: LOCAL HIGHWAY LAW › Chapter 304: ACQUISITION OF PROPERTY FOR HIGHWAY PURPOSES › 23 §3031. Public and private rights in proposed, unaccepted ways in subdivisions

§3031. Public and private rights in proposed, unaccepted ways in subdivisions
1.  Public rights.
From the date of recording of a subdivision plan in the registry of deeds, the public acquires rights of incipient dedication to public use of the ways laid out on the plan. If a proposed way laid out in the plan is not accepted by the municipality within 20 years from the date of recording of the plan, the public rights in that way terminate.
[PL 1987, c. 385, §2 (NEW).]
2.  Private rights.
A person acquiring title to land shown on a subdivision plan recorded in the registry of deeds acquires a private right-of-way over the ways laid out in the plan. If a proposed, unaccepted way is not constructed within 20 years from the date of recording of the plan, and if the private rights created by the recording of the plan are not constructed and utilized as private rights within that 20-year period, the private rights-of-way in that way terminate.
Unless title has been reserved pursuant to Title 33, section 469‑A, when the private rights established by this subsection are terminated as provided in this subsection or by order of vacation by the municipality, the title of the fee interest in the proposed, unaccepted way for which the private rights-of-way have terminated passes to the abutting property owners to the centerline of the way.
[PL 1987, c. 385, §2 (NEW).]
3.  Shorter duration of public and private rights; rights of lesser extent.
Notwithstanding subsections 1 and 2, the developer or other person recording a subdivision plan in the registry of deeds may set a shorter duration for the public and private rights established in subsections 1 and 2 than the period provided in those subsections. The developer or other person recording the subdivision plan shall cause the shorter duration to be noted on the face of the subdivision plan.
Pursuant to a subdivision review under Title 30‑A, chapter 187, subchapter IV, the municipal reviewing authority may set a shorter duration for the public and private rights established in subsections 1 and 2 than the period provided in those subsections. The municipal reviewing authority shall cause the shorter duration to be noted on the face of the subdivision plan.
Nothing in this section may be construed to prohibit the developer or other person recording a subdivision plan in the registry of deeds from granting rights of lesser extent than those established in subsections 1 and 2. If rights of lesser extent are granted, the person recording the subdivision plan shall cause the extent of those rights to be described on the face of the subdivision plan and in any conveyance of land shown on the plan.
[PL 1995, c. 462, Pt. B, §4 (AMD).]
4.  Fee interest reserved by owner of subdivision.
If the owner of land for which a subdivision is proposed reserves the fee interest in any ways proposed on the subdivision plan, the owner shall place a statement of this reservation in all conveyances by him of land in the subdivision.
[PL 1987, c. 385, §2 (NEW).]
SECTION HISTORY
PL 1987, c. 385, §2 (NEW). PL 1995, c. 462, §B4 (AMD).