Opinion ID: 2185299
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Status of Haigh Road

Text: The town of Brentwood also maintains that the master erred in ruling that Haigh Road is a public right of way as that term is used in Article XIII of the Brentwood zoning ordinance. The Brentwood zoning ordinance requires that [n]o building lot shall be less than eighty thousand (80,000) square feet, and shall have a minimum continuous lot frontage of two hundred (200) feet .... Brentwood, N.H., Zoning Ordinance art. IV (2) (A) (1972). Frontage is defined by the ordinance as the length of the lot bordering on the public right of way; a right of way means and includes all town, state and federal highways, rights of way dedicated to the public use .... Brentwood, N.H., Zoning Ordinance art. XIII (1), (5) (1972). If Haigh Road is a public right of way within the meaning of the ordinance, plaintiffs have adequate frontage for constructing a residence on their land and a permit should be issued to them as the master directed. Whether Haigh Road is a public right of way under the provisions of the Brentwood zoning ordinance depends upon the effect of the town's vote on March 8, 1966, to close it subject to gates and bars. Plaintiffs argue that the only results of the town vote were to relieve the town of maintenance responsibility and of tort liability with respect to Haigh Road, not to alter the road's status as a public right of way. RSA 238:6 (Towns Not Liable after Discontinuance). RSA 238:2 provided that [a]ny class IV, V, or VI highway, or any portion thereof, may be discontinued as an open highway and made subject to gates and bars, by vote of the town. Effective August 29, 1969, RSA 238:2 was amended to provide that [s]uch a discontinued highway shall not have the status of a publicly approved street. RSA 238:2 (Supp. 1973); Laws 1969, 332:2. The language of the amended statute is clear that the vote of a town to close a road subject to gates and bars discontinues the road's status as a publicly approved street. Any doubt as to the effect of the 1969 amendment to RSA 238:2 is removed by the legislative history in which the bill's sponsor (Sen. Jacobson) stated that the amendment established the fact that a highway subject to gates and bars is not an approved public street. N.H.S. Jour. 893 (1969). The Brentwood board of adjustment unanimously determined that [s]ince Haigh Road is closed subject to gates and bars, the applicant has no frontage as contemplated within the ordinance. Implicit in that determination is a finding that a road which is no longer a publicly approved street is not a public right of way as that term is used in the Brentwood zoning ordinance, and the board's conclusion was not erroneous. See K. Davis, Administrative Law Text § 30.06, at 552 (1972); L. Jaffe, Judicial Control of Administrative Action 614-15 (1965). Defendant's exceptions sustained in part.