Opinion ID: 2299179
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Status of Steele Road

Text: [¶ 7] The Trust argues that the court erred by determining that Steele Road is the type of public road classified as a town way, rather than a private way, and by determining that the road has not been abandoned. We review a trial court's factual findings for clear error and its application of the law to those facts de novo. Peters v. O'Leary, 2011 ME 106, ¶ 15, 30 A.3d 825. [¶ 8] The record includes documentary evidence that in 1855, upon application by property owner Cyrus Smith, Steele Road was laid out by the Dayton selectmen as a town way for the use of said town, and it was approved as laid out by a vote at a town meeting. The court's conclusion that the road is a town way was therefore not in error. See R.S. ch. 25, §§ 27, 31 (1841) (permitting town selectmen to lay out a town way and stating that whether a road is considered a town way is to be determined by the selectmen); Wardens of Christ's Church v. Woodward, 26 Me. 172, 178 (1846) (noting that the selectmen's express classification of the road is essential for the town's informed acceptance or rejection of the road as laid out). No facts in the record or subsequent amendments to the governing statutes compel an alternative conclusion. See R.S. ch. 18, §§ 18-19, 21 (1857); 23 M.R.S. §§ 3021-23 (2011); Inhabitants of Orrington v. Cnty. Comm'rs, 51 Me. 570, 573 (1863) (Kent, J., concurring); Browne v. Connor, 138 Me. 63, 66-67, 21 A.2d 709 (1941); Brown v. Warchalowski, 471 A.2d 1026, 1031-32 (Me.1984); Fournier v. Elliott, 2009 ME 25, ¶ 19 n. 6, 966 A.2d 410. [¶ 9] The Trust also contends that even if Steele Road is a town way, the court erred by concluding that it has not been abandoned. We evaluate this contention pursuant to the common law doctrine of abandonment because the Trust has not alleged statutory abandonment by the Town. See 23 M.R.S. § 3028 (2011); Martin v. Burnham, 631 A.2d 1239, 1240-41 (Me.1993). [¶ 10] At common law, a presumption of a public intent to abandon a road may be raised by evidence of nonuse for twenty years or more. Shadan v. Town of Skowhegan, 1997 ME 187, ¶ 4, 700 A.2d 245 (quotation marks omitted). Whether a public road has been abandoned is a question of law reviewed de novo, but the facts on which the court relied in its determination are reviewed for clear error. See Glidden v. Belden, 684 A.2d 1306, 1312 (Me.1996); Peters, 2011 ME 106, ¶ 15, 30 A.3d 825. [¶ 11] The court found that Steele Road is a dead-end road that was created to serve Cyrus Smith's family and its guests, and that it was continuously used by the people for whom it was intended to be used. These findings are not clearly erroneous, and the public's use of the road must be understood in this context. In this case, use by people who may in some instances be considered separable from the general public in fact constituted the use by the public that was intended when the road was created. Cf. Shadan, 1997 ME 187, ¶¶ 5, ¶ 7, 700 A.2d 245; Browne, 138 Me. at 66-67, 21 A.2d 709. Because there was no substantial change in the use of Steele Road over time, the Trust failed to establish nonuse by the public, and the court did not err by concluding that Steele Road has not been abandoned.