1.1                          A bill for an act 
  1.2             relating to towns; providing for damage award to 
  1.3             affected property owner when town board adopts a 
  1.4             recorded town road map; amending Minnesota Statutes 
  1.5             1994, section 164.35, subdivision 4. 
  1.6   BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
  1.7      Section 1.  Minnesota Statutes 1994, section 164.35, 
  1.8   subdivision 4, is amended to read: 
  1.9      Subd. 4.  [PROCEDURE TO ADOPT MAP.] (a) The town board 
  1.10  shall pass a resolution of its intent to hold a public hearing 
  1.11  to consider recording roads by adopting an official map.  
  1.12     (b) The town board must prepare an official map as provided 
  1.13  in subdivision 3, and set a time, place, and date for a public 
  1.14  hearing on adopting a recorded town road map to record roads.  
  1.15     (c) The hearing notice must state that the roads to be 
  1.16  recorded will be as four rod roads with the official and 
  1.17  permanent alignment being 33 feet on either side of the existing 
  1.18  center line, except that (1) townline roads may be recorded for 
  1.19  only the 33 feet located within the town holding that public 
  1.20  hearing, and (2) a road previously recorded as less or greater 
  1.21  than a 66-foot right-of-way may be recorded at its actual width 
  1.22  and the width must be duly recorded on the map.  The hearing 
  1.23  notice must be published once a week for two successive weeks in 
  1.24  a qualified newspaper of general circulation that serves the 
  1.25  town, the last publication to be made at least ten days before 
  2.1   the date of the public hearing.  At least 30 days before the 
  2.2   hearing, the hearing notice must be sent by mail to the property 
  2.3   owners directly affected in the town at the addresses listed on 
  2.4   tax assessment notices.  The hearing notice may be sent with the 
  2.5   tax assessment but all additional costs incurred may be billed 
  2.6   to the town.  
  2.7      (d) After the public hearing is held, the town board may 
  2.8   amend and adopt the recorded town road map.  The recorded town 
  2.9   road map must be adopted by resolution and the map must be dated 
  2.10  and signed by the chair and clerk of the town board and must be 
  2.11  recorded with the county recorder within 90 days after the map 
  2.12  is adopted.  
  2.13     (e) The map of recorded town roads that is recorded with 
  2.14  the county recorder must comply with the standards of the county 
  2.15  recorder where the town is located. 
  2.16     (f) A recorded town road map that was prepared by using 
  2.17  aerial photographs to establish road center lines and that has 
  2.18  been duly recorded with the county recorder, is an adequate 
  2.19  description for purposes of recording road easements and the map 
  2.20  is the legally constituted description and prevails when a deed 
  2.21  for a parcel abutting a road contains no reference to a road 
  2.22  easement.  Nothing prevents the town board from accepting a more 
  2.23  definitive metes and bounds or survey description of a road 
  2.24  easement for a road of record in its jurisdiction providing the 
  2.25  description of the easement is referenced to equal distance on 
  2.26  both sides of the existing road center line.  
  2.27     (g) To the extent this section requires recording or 
  2.28  dedicating a town road to a width greater than that of its 
  2.29  previous, actual public use, section 164.07 governs any award or 
  2.30  procedures relating to damages sustained, if any, by the 
  2.31  affected property owner. 
  2.32     Sec. 2.  [EFFECTIVE DATE.] 
  2.33     Section 1 is effective the day following final enactment.