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Question on private road... well, newly private road.

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So theres a through road a couple of neighborhoods over from ours... the kid lives in a house with the boyfriend where he has been all his life (rent from his parents). The road has been a through road the entirety of my time up here, about 20 years or so... I have driven on it a couple hundred times in the past decades.

Well the wife and kiddo decided to walk the dogs yesterday afternoon, and noticed someone hung a chain across it and added a "private drive" sign on a tree. They kept walking and within a couple minutes were confronted by some old ass "Karen" trying to pick a fight, screaming lawsuit, gonna call the po-po and yata yata... even went so far as to try and make the dog react to her by jumping in front of her. Wife just shrugged, shook here head and kept on trucking with the dog. The kid was sort of shaken by it, worried about whatever...

Whats the verdict here? The road has literally NEVER been blocked off and is an actual through road to another neighborhood... not well traveled but traveled enough. Can some crazy loon biotch just decide one day to block the road and harass people walking on it?
 
First, is it actually private property? Did you check with your local zoning/property maps?

Second, is there an easement in place if it is private property?

Third, if there is no easement do you live in a jurisdiction where history of unimpeded access will imply an easement unless the courts have ruled otherwise?
 
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Scott Cee aka 2drx4 said:
First, is it actually private property? Did you check with your local zoning/property maps?

Second, is there an easement in place if it is private property?

Third, if there is no easement do you live in a jurisdiction where history of unimpeded access will imply an easement unless the courts have ruled otherwise?
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So I looked up the title/ parcel info of all 5 chunks of property that the road runs adjacent to (road doesn't actually run through anyones property, just winds along the boudaries... they all refer to a common corridor E4 (I am assuming the road to be that common corridor). The lady recently retired up here with the hubs about 4 months ago... and decided to place a chain (no lock) and a private drive sign. Arizona law says 7 years in use as a walk, or drive path and it's automatically ripened as a common path.

That enough?:confused:
 
Not sure about your state, but in Iowa a landowner can ask to have a Level B minimum maintenance road converted to a Level C, which can be gated to limit access. I believe part of what lead up to the push for this was people mud bogging the Level B roads, and farmers not being able to access their fields because the ruts were too deep for them to pull equipment through. There is one a few miles from my house that was converted without ag fields along it. The person living on it was just tired of kids tearing it up at all hours of the night and then pounding on their door at 3am asking to get pulled out or to use their phone.

The Level C classification was added in 1991 by HF 419. This third classification was developed to provide a
means to limit access to roads that primarily serve adjacent farming operations and there has been resistance to
vacating them. This legislation included language stating that stated Level C roads may only be established by ordinance or resolution.
In addition, Area Service C classification roads shall adequately warn the public that access is limited. Access to the road shall be restricted by means of a gate or other barrier."
 
Scott Cee aka 2drx4 said:
First, is it actually private property? Did you check with your local zoning/property maps?

Second, is there an easement in place if it is private property?

Third, if there is no easement do you live in a jurisdiction where history of unimpeded access will imply an easement unless the courts have ruled otherwise?
Click to expand...

these things.

where i'm at, the county/zoning says that our access cannot be blocked and is along "recognized private roads", for which there is no map nor listed easement aside from 60' wide "path of road". i.e. nobody can legally block off any existing semblance of a road that doesn't dead end on their plot. If i travel on that road across their property to or from mine, i can legally cut a chain. Not neighborly, but legally.

so, check with the actual rules before you get yourself or your dog killed over something stupid.
 
flecker said:
So I looked up the title/ parcel info of all 5 chunks of property that the road runs adjacent to (road doesn't actually run through anyones property, just winds along the boudaries... they all refer to a common corridor E4 (I am assuming the road to be that common corridor). The lady recently retired up here with the hubs about 4 months ago... and decided to place a chain (no lock) and a private drive sign. Arizona law says 7 years in use as a walk, or drive path and it's automatically ripened as a common path.

That enough?:confused:
Click to expand...

if it is a chain with no lock, then it is not unreasonable to respect the chain. Like any fence, leave it as you found it, but that is no hinderance to travel.

if they add a lock, cut the lock. neighborly, of course
 
flecker said:
So I looked up the title/ parcel info of all 5 chunks of property that the road runs adjacent to (road doesn't actually run through anyones property, just winds along the boudaries... they all refer to a common corridor E4 (I am assuming the road to be that common corridor). The lady recently retired up here with the hubs about 4 months ago... and decided to place a chain (no lock) and a private drive sign. Arizona law says 7 years in use as a walk, or drive path and it's automatically ripened as a common path.

That enough?:confused:
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Sounds like she's blocking a road illegally.

Is she representing the BLM movement? If not, you should be able to get her chain and sign removed.
 
Filthy McChevy said:
Time to go to a County Commissioner meeting.
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Meh... I don't really care. It isn't like there's not a go around. It's the attitude and harassment that pisses me off, especially towards the wife and kiddo. Beyond that, theres plenty of places to walk the dog and whatnot.

Again, I am respectful of peoples property... I wouldn't be a dick on an easement road, but up my driveway? Sure, probably.
 
flecker said:
Meh... I don't really care. It isn't like there's not a go around. It's the attitude and harassment that pisses me off, especially towards the wife and kiddo. Beyond that, theres plenty of places to walk the dog and whatnot.

Again, I am respectful of peoples property... I wouldn't be a dick on an easement road, but up my driveway? Sure, probably.
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you don't have to give in. feel free to reach out with a "hey, you can't legally block this access road, so understand that it will still be traveled and any attempts to put a lock in place will be remvoed" or whatever it is
 
You could start fucking with them and putting a different dollar store lock on the chain every time you or your wife are out for a walk. Eventually I'll bet the chain comes down.

Maybe write "for copy of combination contact -adress-" and use bitchy ladys.
 
2big bronco said:
You could start fucking with them and putting a different dollar store lock on the chain every time you or your wife are out for a walk. Eventually I'll bet the chain comes down.

Maybe write "for copy of combination contact -adress-" and use bitchy ladys.
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Drop a few of the jumbo concrete blocks across the road.
 
Scott Cee aka 2drx4 said:
First, is it actually private property? Did you check with your local zoning/property maps?

Second, is there an easement in place if it is private property?

Third, if there is no easement do you live in a jurisdiction where history of unimpeded access will imply an easement unless the courts have ruled otherwise?
Click to expand...

This right herel
a trip to the assessors office should clear it up!
 
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There must be dozens of other people who are being impacted by this as well as police, ambulance, and fire.. If it was me I would let it go for a month or so as someone else is probably more fired up and looking to start a fight over it. If a month goes by I would make a call to the authorities and let them sort it out. I would not go out of my way to engage the nutty neighbors and then have the possibility of them causing me shit down the road so to speak.
 
Download LandGlide app for your phone. Take a walk on the road and see what it says. Who maintains the road?
 
I am in escrow for 46.5 acres in Mohave County, Arizona. Its basically a square piece of land. It has a roadway easement running along two or the property lines. The escrow paperwork came with a county easement map, clearly defining it as easement to access the property attached and behind the parcel I am purchasing. Its still private property and I can limit access, but have to allow the people who own property access. It means I can gate it and post it as private, but then I would have to give a key to every owner of every parcel listed as having access through that easement. Doesn't seem like it would be worth the trouble since I will gate my own driveway coming off that easement. I also looked it up on the county's assessors office website. It was interactive, and had the same maps, along with parcel maps.
 
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flecker said:
So I looked up the title/ parcel info of all 5 chunks of property that the road runs adjacent to (road doesn't actually run through anyones property, just winds along the boudaries... they all refer to a common corridor E4 (I am assuming the road to be that common corridor). The lady recently retired up here with the hubs about 4 months ago... and decided to place a chain (no lock) and a private drive sign. Arizona law says 7 years in use as a walk, or drive path and it's automatically ripened as a common path.

That enough?:confused:
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Where the "lady" from? :stirthepot:
 
Once you determine that the chain and sign are illegal, I'd probably go ahead and file a restraining order against the lady (harassment and attempting to get your dog to bite her) just to CYA.
 
They may be starting the process of prescriptive termination of an easement... ie: conspicuously block the road with contact info for a period of time then file paper work to terminate it. Easier/cheaper than trying to track down everyone who may have a legal interest in the easement.

Acting like an asshat, can't say that is cool.
 
If you are in the city, say pinetop lakeside, I would bet their zoning people are used to thsi type of thing. Though it didn't happen up in the mountains, we had a section line road blocked in a county island between the rez and City of Mesa (arizona) by an ADOT supervisor. It was blocked for a while right in the middle of the road with a punch pad. Turns out, that is illegal, also turns out that if you work for the state and misuse your authority, you can be fired and lose your retirement,
 
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