Saturday, April 11, 2009

'Forgotten' road burden of residents? :: Herald News :: Local News

'Forgotten' road burden of residents? :: Herald News :: Local News: "PLAINFIELD, IL -- For 13 years, most of the residents of Cambridge Circle apparently had no idea they were supposed to maintain their street. The village has been plowing it, changing street lights, even citing them for shoveling snow out onto the street. They had to call the police department to get permission to have a party on the street, said one resident. In June, the homeowners association discovered their subdivision's original annexation agreement, which states that Cambridge Circle was supposed to be a private road, maintained by the homeowners association. The residents were not informed of that and have never reserved cash to cover the cost of maintaining the road, said Mark Lindsay, president of the homeowners association. The homeowners association recently asked the village to take ownership of the road, seeking an amendment to the annexation agreement. Village staff recommended against it."
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Surprise!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

This sounds like a reverse adverse possession case. The city has acted like it owned it for 13 years and the residents (and owning HOA) have done nothing. You can't get more adverse than being cited by a nonowner for shoveling snow into a street that the nonowner acts like it owns. Perhaps the residents can say that you have successfully acquired the street by adverse possession to dump the street onto the city.

Evan McKenzie said...

The irony is that nobody can acquire government land through adverse possession...but as you say, this is like the reverse.