Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Maine
We live on an abandoned town road - the town maintains a public and recreational easement on the road. Today the town arranged to have all the brush and trees in the road cut and removed. The town is being paid by the harvestor for the wood they are receiving by doing this
My questions is - is this legal? I thought the wood would belong to the landowners - whose property abuts this road.
1 Answer from Attorneys
Unfortunately who owns the land is a rather complex question that would depend on a lot of facts. You would need to find out how the Town abandoned the road, and to whom the land reverted to when it did. Unless this was formally done and there is record of it, it may not be clear. It may be the abutting landowners, or it may be someone else depending on how the road was originally created and became a town road.
Generally the party who has a right-of-way easement can do maintenance including tree clearance. Typically the party doing the maintenance pays for it, but they should contact the owner of the land about the scope of the clearance. But you are right that the wood does belong to the land owner, and if it has value, they would be entitled to it.
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