Minnesota Session Laws - 1987, Regular Session

  

                         Laws of Minnesota 1987 

                        CHAPTER 219-H.F.No. 542 
           An act relating to transportation; providing an 
          alternative procedure to record town roads; proposing 
          coding for new law in Minnesota Statutes, chapter 164.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
    Section 1.  [164.35] [ALTERNATIVE RECORDING FOR TOWN 
ROADS.] 
    Subdivision 1.  [DEFINITION.] "Recorded town road map" 
means the official map of maintained and minimum-maintenance 
town roads.  
    Subd. 2.  [AUTHORIZATION.] A town board may adopt a 
recorded town road map under this section to record its town 
road easements.  
    Subd. 3.  [MAP REQUIREMENTS.] The recorded town road map 
must:  
    (1) show maintained and minimum-maintenance town roads at 
the time the map is adopted; 
    (2) be prepared at a scale of at least four inches equals 
one mile; 
    (3) include a legend to differentiate between maintained 
and minimum-maintained roads; 
    (4) include section numbers; 
    (5) include a north point arrow; 
    (6) include the name of the town, county, and state; 
    (7) include a blank and a description under the blank for 
the date of public hearing and date of adoption; and 
    (8) include blanks for signatures and dates of signatures 
for the chair and clerk of the town board.  
    Subd. 4.  [PROCEDURE TO ADOPT MAP.] (a) The town board 
shall pass a resolution of its intent to hold a public hearing 
to consider recording roads by adopting an official map.  
    (b) The town board must prepare an official map as provided 
in subdivision 3, and set a time, place, and date for a public 
hearing on adopting a recorded town road map to record roads.  
    (c) The hearing notice must state that the roads to be 
recorded will be as four rod roads with the official and 
permanent alignment being 33 feet on either side of the existing 
center line, except that (1) townline roads may be recorded for 
only the 33 feet located within the town holding that public 
hearing, and (2) a road previously recorded as less or greater 
than a 66-foot right-of-way may be recorded at its actual width 
and the width must be duly recorded on the map.  The hearing 
notice must be published once a week for two successive weeks in 
a qualified newspaper of general circulation that serves the 
town, the last publication to be made at least ten days before 
the date of the public hearing.  At least 30 days before the 
hearing, the hearing notice must be sent by mail to the property 
owners directly affected in the town at the addresses listed on 
tax assessment notices.  The hearing notice may be sent with the 
tax assessment but all additional costs incurred may be billed 
to the town.  
    (d) After the public hearing is held, the town board may 
amend and adopt the recorded town road map.  The recorded town 
road map must be adopted by resolution and the map must be dated 
and signed by the chair and clerk of the town board and must be 
recorded with the county recorder within 90 days after the map 
is adopted.  
    (e) The map of recorded town roads that is recorded with 
the county recorder must comply with the standards of the county 
recorder where the town is located. 
    (f) A recorded town road map that was prepared by using 
aerial photographs to establish road center lines and that has 
been duly recorded with the county recorder, is an adequate 
description for purposes of recording road easements and the map 
is the legally constituted description and prevails when a deed 
for a parcel abutting a road contains no reference to a road 
easement.  Nothing prevents the town board from accepting a more 
definitive metes and bounds or survey description of a road 
easement for a road of record in its jurisdiction providing the 
description of the easement is referenced to equal distance on 
both sides of the existing road center line.  
    Subd. 5.  [APPEAL.] A person may appeal a decision to 
record a road being recorded under this section to the district 
court within 60 days after the date the town board adopts the 
recorded town road map. 
    Subd. 6.  [UNRECORDED ROADS AND CARTWAYS NOT 
AFFECTED.] This section does not affect the legal status or town 
obligations of roads and cartways not shown on the recorded town 
road map, except that unrecorded roads must meet minimum town 
road standards as defined in section 165.04, subdivision 3 for 
roads approaching bridges and culverts or provisions must be 
made to meet those standards before the town is required to 
accept the road as part of its recorded road system.  
    Sec. 2.  [164.36] [TOWN AUTHORITY OVER RECORDED ROADS.] 
    The town board has authority within the 66-foot 
right-of-way to:  
    (1) maintain or reconstruct a recorded road used for 
vehicular travel; 
    (2) dispose of snow; 
    (3) plant trees and shrubs that it considers appropriate; 
    (4) remove trees and other woody vegetation as provided in 
section 160.22; 
    (5) allow the placement of highway directional and 
informational signs as provided in section 169.06, subdivision 3;
    (6) allow the placement of electrical and telephone poles 
and electrical, telephone, or television cables; 
    (7) control weeds and regulate the cutting or complete 
removal of nonwoody vegetation; and 
    (8) regulate erosion, drainage, public nuisances, and 
matters of public interest. 
    Approved May 26, 1987