OK, so I was up in Silver Lake this past weekend. Took the wife's ZJ on the dunes and it sucked (ZJ on the dunes ... not the dunes), so Sunday we decided to explore some trails. We found a pretty kick-ass rutted hill on 48th Ave. between SL and Shelby but beyond the little 31's on the ZJ. Want to take the XJ back there and play!
So anyway, the topo map showed Pierce Rd. as a dotted line, so I assumed unimproved road. I followed it and it came to a spot where the landowner cabled it off and posted it. So, I went to the other end of the "trail" on the topo and same thing. I walked down in a few hundred yards and it looks like a sweet trail! Prolly about a mile and 1/2 end to end.
My question is: Can a landowner legally block and post a public right-of-way? It is on the Michigan topo map as a road. It is also in my GPS USGS Topo Map as a trail.
I'm not advocating illegal wheeling, but likewise ... is this illegal trail closing? I still want to call Oceana Co. and get their opinion on this as well. Will post up here if a get a definitive answer.
he can if its abandoned road i cant remeber the exact time frame but the county has to stop maintanig it for so long then it reverts back to the land owner
I would contact the oceana county road commission, like nick suggested. lots of people think that just because they own the land on either side of a seasonal road, that they actually own the road. unfortunately oceana county runs on the "good ole boys" system, so if the person who blocked it off is well off, or connected, nothing will happen.
The Oceana CRC has a Map of ALL of the easements they claim. It's on the wall in the room left of the entryway. That map is the only way to tell if it's still a CRC road and illegally abandoned, or legally blocked. Well, or call them and ask them to look at the map and tell you :teehee:.
I spent some time there one day and modified the map I have to mirror their map. Mine is accurate as of 2006.
I can tell you if it's on my copy, but I'm not exactly sure of where you're talking about by your description. Can you give the questioned road with the names of the nearest cross roads on either side of the questioned piece?
If it's where I think it is, it has been properly abandoned, but LETS BE SURE!
I HATE losing stuff that is SUPPOSED to be open!
check with your county road manager in the road commission office. sometimes private parties can petition for the county to abandon a public road or alley. the county may want to abandon it because they don't want to maintain it or be liable for what goes on there, especially if it is really off the beaten track. to abandon the property, the county likely sends letters to propery owners within a certain distance of the land and a notice of public hearing is published. likely no one will show up. if no objections, the local city or township is offered first dibs. if they don't want it, it reverts to the property owners sharing the property line and it may not get wiped off the map. we did some research on this last year for a public alley near us.
Or you could call them and ask to get the certification maps for that township. They are required to submit Act 51 Maps (Certification Maps) every year. You could also ask for abandonment records for that road. Be sure to give them the section, town, and range if you go that route.
Not all counties have "user friendly" map printing capabilities for their Cert maps (if requested) and may have a relatively substantial fee for producing a copy for you.
Also . . .
Not all CRC easements are Certified.
Oceana dropped over 80 miles from it's Certification map a couple of years ago, but still retain all of the easements.
They intend to begin blading them back to "standard" and then submitting them for recertification.
a marked, mapped, and even googled road does not, in and of itself indicate a legal public road, or right of way.
you literally need to research the publicly recorded descriptions for the parcels that bound it on either side if the Road Commission does not have a specific record of it.
A lot of the time, though, the parcels go right to the center of the right-of-way, particularly old ones. So that might not help.
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