Re: Neighbor Put Fence in Road--Advice?

Posted by Pooh Bear on January 02, 2007 at 09:12:28 from (66.11.244.35):

In Reply to: Neighbor Put Fence in Road--Advice? posted by T.C. in Tx on January 02, 2007 at 07:01:10:

Around here if the county has maintained the road for that long then it is a legal county road.

I grew up on the end of a dead end road. Our family had 7 acres there that started about where the road ended. The neighbors propery across the street ended where the road ended. We didn't know who owned the rest of that land. We lived in my Grandparents house, and decided to build our own house on the property. I was about 6 years old at the time. Our road wasn't paved back then. My parents just went out to the end of the road and cleared a swath about 100 yards down further to extend the road. My Dad knew it wasn't on our property but the land wasn't being used and nobody knew who owned it. And this was the early 1970s in rural Tennessee. So it wasn't a problem for anyone. Well, the very next year the county decided to pave our road. And they did. all the way to the end. Even the extra 100 yards we had added. And about every 5 years they repaved it. They did this for the next 30 years. In that time we had put a nice little fence down our side of the road, and a nice row of trees had grown up. And the property had changed hands countless times. It finally ended up in the possession of a lawyer who wanted to develop it as part of another upscale (very upscale) development that had been created on the other side of his property. Except that road wasn't on his deed. He had lost a parcel of land approximately 100 yards long and 40 feet wide. He had it surveyed. The surveyers had to go by the old fence lines (ours) and said the road belonged there. He had it surveyed again, and again, and again, each time by different surveyers. They all kept telling him the road belonged there. He went to the county. The county said they not only had a right of way thru there but that they had to right to extend it another 500 yards if they wanted. So the lawyer went to my Dad and threatened action against him if he didn't remove the road. My Dad said go see the county, they paved it. They both went to see the county, same answer as before. The lawyer threatened lawsuits. My Dad said fine, I'll clear a road on my side of the property line and give the county a right of way. But I will have to cut down that row of trees to do it. The lawyer said no to that idea. He wanted the row of trees to hide our property and neighborhood. So the lawyer decided to allow us to use half the road as a driveway if we would have the other side of the road removed by a dozer and plant trees and grass. My Dad said he wasn't about to use a dozer to tear up a county road, but if the lawyer wanted to he could have a dozer do it and then we would plant trees and grass. And things were left at that point. The lawyers plans for development fell thru and he came and apologized to my Dad for all the trouble he had caused. And he finally added a right of way for the road to his deed. This was all about 15 years ago and the road is still there. We moved from there about 10 years ago.

If the county is maintaining the road then you can force them to maintain a clear right of way or sue them for damages when another car forces you thru the fence.

Minimum width should be 40 feet. 20 feet for two lanes, 10 feet wide each, then 5 feet on each side for drainage ditches, then another 5 feet on each side for utility easements.

Call the county attorney and ask him who is liable for the damage caused by a fence blocking part of the road and the county is refusing to do anything about it. Have the problem brought up at the next county commission meeting. Liabilities seem to get action quick.

Pooh Bear

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