Opinion ID: 2622336
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Status of Mohan Road

Text: [¶ 10] Several of the issues the parties raise pertain to the Landowners' property rights in Mohan Road. Because the issues are related, we will consider them together, starting with the basic rules pertaining to public use conveyances. Property may be dedicated to the public and dedication may be accomplished directly by deed or by recording a plat. City of Evanston v. Robinson, 702 P.2d 1283, 1289 (Wyo.1985). Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 34-12-104 (LexisNexis 2007) articulates the effect of recording a plat: The acknowledgment and recording of such plat, is equivalent to a deed in fee simple of such portion of the premises platted as is on such plat set apart for streets, or other public use, or is thereon dedicated to charitable, religious or educational purposes. [¶ 11] The Landowners maintain that the plat and dedication deed covered the same property and, because the plat was filed first, the deed is subject to the reservations included in the plat, including a utility easement. They claim these circumstances raise a genuine issue of material fact as to the grantor's intent. The record includes an affidavit signed by Don Oakley, a professional land surveyor. Mr. Oakley reviewed the dedication deed and the plat and stated that the northern part of Mohan Road was conveyed to the public in the dedication deed and was not included in the legal description of the Mohan Subdivision created by the plat. The map attached to his affidavit indicates the southern part of the road was within the subdivision and, consequently, dedicated to the public in the plat. Mr. Oakley also stated: The area which was disturbed by the excavation for the sewer line which is the subject of Plaintiffs' complaint is located in the area described in the Dedication Deed. . . . Mr. Oakley's affidavit was not disputed and, therefore, conclusively established that the properties described in the dedication deed and the plat did not overlap. Consequently, the Landowners' argument that the plat takes precedence over the dedication deed misses the point because the two documents pertain to different properties. [¶ 12] The City and Sewer District claim the Landowners do not have standing to contest the appellees' use of the portion of Mohan Road adjacent to the Landowners' businesses because it was unequivocally conveyed to the public by the dedication deed. In Ruby Drilling Co., Inc. v. Billingsly, 660 P.2d 377 (Wyo.1983), this Court considered a case with facts similar to the case at bar. Ruby installed a water line in the right of way of a roadway easement dedicated to the public in a subdivision plat. The appellees owned property in the subdivision adjacent to the roadway and sued Ruby for trespass. Id. at 378-79. This Court held that the entire right of way had been dedicated to the public and, [t]his being so, the appellees as owners of lots in the subdivision only have a right to the use of the [roadway] for ingress and egress to their property; they have no possessory interest in that area sufficient to provide the underpinning for an action in trespass. Id. at 381. [¶ 13] In Owsley v. Robinson, 2003 WY 33, ¶ 16, 65 P.3d 374, 378 (Wyo.2003), we stated: [I]f the easements were set aside for public use, the public authority would hold title to the easements in trust for the public's benefit and the [individual landowners] would have no individual possessory interest in the easements and thus no standing to contest [another's] use of [the][e]asement. [¶ 14] According to Mr. Oakley's affidavit, the area disturbed by the sewer line was in the northerly portion of Mohan Road which was covered by the dedication deed. Under the teachings of Ruby Drilling and Owsley, since the northern portion of the road was unequivocally dedicated to the public in the dedication deed, the Landowners would not have a possessory interest in it and, therefore, no standing to contest the City's use of the roadway for a sewer line. [¶ 15] Our ruling that the Landowners whose property abuts the northerly portion of Mohan Road do not have standing would seem to be dispositive. However, the record indicates the owner of Lot 9 may have a cognizable claim because its land does not abut the portion of Mohan Road covered by the dedication deed, but instead abuts the southern portion of the road which was dedicated in the subdivision plat. The map attached to Mr. Oakley's affidavit shows that Lot 9 is not adjacent to the portion of Mohan Road that was dedicated by the deed. An affidavit filed by Mark Lenti stated that he was the controlling shareholder of M & J Services, Inc. and that company owns Lot 6 and a percentage of Lot 9. The sewer line apparently continued down Mohan Road in the area covered by the plat. Because the section of Mohan Road adjacent to Lot 9 was dedicated in the plat rather than by the dedication deed, and M & J Services claimed the subdivision had an exclusive utility easement pursuant to dedication language in the plat, it has standing to contest the City's use of the roadway. We will, therefore, address the effect of the plat on this case. [¶ 16] In the subdivision plat, the owner dedicated to and for public use forever hereafter the streets as are laid out and designated on this plat, and do also preserve easements for the installation and maintenance of utilities and for irrigation and drainage facilities as are laid out and designated on this plat. The Landowners argue this dedication only gave the public the right to use the road for ingress and egress. They claim the plat language indicates the grantor intended to reserve utility easements for the subdivision and the City did not have the right to install the sewer line beneath the platted portion of Mohan Road. [¶ 17] When streets are dedicated to the public without restriction, the dedication embraces every reasonable method of travel over, under and along the right of way. Box L Corp. v. Teton County, 2004 WY 75, ¶ 17, 92 P.3d 811, 817 (Wyo.2004). In Robinson, we stated that the dedication of streets includes the surface and so much of the subsurface as is necessary for street construction and municipal services. Robinson, 702 P.2d at 1289. [¶ 18] The Landowners would have us interpret the plat as reserving to the subdivision owners the exclusive right to use the road area for utilities. The plain language of the dedication does not support their interpretation. The plat dedicates the street area to the public. When such a dedication is made without restriction, it includes the right to use the subsurface for the provision of municipal services, including utilities. The plat preserved easements for utilities, etc. Use of the term preserve is somewhat unusual. Typically, if a grantor intends to keep some property interest when conveying the property, he reserves that interest. We need not, however, concern ourselves with the precise meaning of the preserve language because even if we interpret the dedication as reserving a utility easement to the subdivision, it does not preclude the public from using the street area for utilities. When an easement does not clearly indicate it is exclusive to the dominant owner, the owner of the servient estate retains the right to use the easement area. Owsley, ¶ 14, 65 P.3d at 377. The plat does not state that the right to use the property for utilities, etc. was exclusive to the subdivision. Thus, even if the subdivision reserved a utility easement, it was not exclusive and the City would have the right to install utilities pursuant to the street dedication so long as it did not interfere with the subdivision's use of the easement. [¶ 19] The district court properly granted summary judgment in favor of the City and Sewer District on the Landowners' claim that the City improperly used Mohan Road for installation of the sewer line.