Opinion ID: 1530103
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The First Ebbs Plat

Text: In 1919, the steamboat company conveyed the entire parcel to Narragansett Bay Realty Company (Narragansett). On April 30, 1921, apparently encountering financial difficulties, Narragansett conveyed its property to a group of trustees (trustees) who were charged with selling the property for the benefit of Narragansett's creditors. The parcel at the end of the Wharf, abutting the harbor, was under lease to the steamboat company. The trustees recorded a plat plan, identified as the First Ebbs Plat, which subdivided the Wharf, with the exception of the lot leased to the steamboat company. Significantly, on this plat, South Commercial Wharf and North Commercial Wharf were depicted as running, unobstructed in any way, from Thames Street to the harbor. Scott's Wharf was set out as running from Thames Street to the connector. As depicted on the plat, these roads connect with a public thoroughfare, are not closed off by solid lines, nor is there any indication on the plat itself that these roadways are private roads. The First Ebbs Plat, filed on November 15, 1921, is the central document in this case and is appended as exhibit No. 1. Thereafter, six deeds from the trustees to various buyers were recorded that deeded-out most of the lots on the Wharf, but not the portion leased to the steamboat company. Each deed included a description of the lot conveyed by metes and bounds and by reference to a way or street on the First Ebbs Plat. For example, lots 6 and 9 were transferred to Fischel David and were described by metes and bounds as situated on a way called North Commercial Wharf laid out on [the First Ebbs Plat]. (Emphasis added.) Significantly, the First Ebbs Plat was the only reference in the deeds to roadways and rights of access to the Wharf. The deeds did not reserve or grant a right of way over the roads on the Wharf, nor did they provide for access to the Wharf from Thames Street; these issues were resolved by reference to the plat. The state contended at trial and argues to this Court that the roads on the Wharf were public by virtue of the sale of lots by reference to the plat and the streets and ways set forth on it. The state argues that this amounts to an incipient dedication of the roads for public use and that this offer was accepted by continuous public use. We note that public use is not disputed by the parties. Realty contends that the First Ebbs Plat was not a land development plat because it reflected streets and ways that had been laid out before the plat was recorded. During the presentation of evidence, the trial justice opined that the First Ebbs Plat was [s]ort of an occupational survey rather than [a] development survey. Realty agreed with that suggestion and now argues that the purpose of the First Ebbs Plat was to provide a vehicle for identifying and describing the lots under the control of the trustees and facilitate their sale. The plaintiff contends that without the benefit of the history of the Wharf, before the advent of the trustees, anyone looking at the First Ebbs Plat would have no reason to think of it as anything but another land-development plat. Realty argues that the plat reflects lots, numbered from 1 to 10, and shows ways leading to the lots but that it was anything but a land-development plat, and the roads shown on the plat were not proposed lots and roads. The state counters that, because the Wharf was assembled into common ownership and conveyed as a single parcel by the Derbys, the existing rights of way were merged with the fee and that, in the First Ebbs Plat, the trustees subdivided the property into separate parcels and sold the parcels with reference to the plat.