Boggy Meadow Road street acceptance memo
TO: Board of Public Works
Planning Board
FROM: Wayne Feiden, FACIP, Director of Planning and Development
RE: Boggy Meadow Road Street Acceptance
DATE: January 24, 2014
A Petition for Street Acceptance of a 316.20 foot portion of a trail known as “Boggy Meadows
Road” was filed with the City Council and referred to the Planning Board and Board of Public
Works.
The Office of Planning and Sustainability recommends against accepting this as a street for
several reasons:
1. Never functioned as a road: This trail has never functioned as a road. It is simply a gravel
narrow right‐of‐way that the abutters have shared rights of access on.
2. Street acceptance is not a substitute for subdivision approval: The proper way to make a
trail with no history of being a road into a road is to file for subdivision approval, build the
road to subdivision standards, and then petition for street acceptance.
3. No right‐of‐way available: Although there are shared rights of access to the trail, under the
derelict fee statute, the abutting property owners own to the center‐line of the trail. This
means that half of the trail is owned by the Northampton Conservation Commission, and
they have not granted permission for a right‐of‐way. Such a right‐of‐way would require an
eminent domain taking and damages.
4. State legislative approval required: Because the Conservation Commission’s holding are
subject to Article 97 of the Amendments to the State Constitution, any conversion of this
land as anticipated by a street acceptance would require, in addition to local approvals, a
two‐thirds roll call vote of the state legislature (general court).