About a year ago, residents who live on Utah Way in Milton came to CNHT with a unique problem over which they eventually prevailed thanks to the research and assistance of the Coalition of NH Taxpayers.
They found themselves in a dispute with town government over whether Ohio Street (which is used to get to Utah Way) was the town’s responsibility for plowing and upkeep, or the residents’ responsibility. As far as the residents knew the town had been plowing and caring for the road for as long as they lived there, some as many as 30 years. Ohio Street is also the location of the town’s water supply station.
Utah Way is a small dead end street off of Ohio Street. It runs along a “peninsula” upon which more than a dozen properties, most year round, are situated.
Northcoast Railroad tracks run across Ohio Street., which drivers must cross in order to enter and exit Utah Way.
Northcoast Railroad had informed the residents that in order to cross the tracks that ran across the entrance to their property, they would have to purchase liability insurance. The residents felt that this was the responsibility of the town’s.
Instead of agreeing to deal with the RR company, the town suddenly stopped plowing in the middle of winter, in an apparent attempt to disavow its ownership of Utah Way and Ohio Street, even though the Milton Water District is located there.
Northcoast told Utah Way residents that they were being regulated by the State of NH and thus required to install proper crossing gates for safety purposes. But since Ohio Street was considered a private road, the town wasn’t willing to pay to install proper crossing apparatus (lights, gates, etc) according to regulations. The cheapest way to resolve this would be to have the property owners that use the crossing to obtain liability insurance. If they didn’t do this by August 1st of 2008, the railroad would block the crossing so no one could drive across it.
The property owners of Utah Way decided to attend a town council meeting to ask why Ohio Street was now being called a “private road” (after being plowed by the town for years). They also believed that the property on Ohio Street was owned either by the town or the Milton water district and they wanted to know why the Ohio Street property owners weren’t being asked to purchase insurance or install a crossing.
The Utah Way property owners presented deeds which stated they had a right of way over the crossing and wanted to know why they were now being told by the railroad that they needed insurance.
The town councilmen told us they couldn’t determine who owned the property on Ohio Street.
After several hours of research done by CNHT, it was discovered that several roads in Milton that had not been properly and legally accepted as town roads… but that they were indeed considered town roads by virtue of having been maintained by the town for years. The material was then presented to the town.
Finally the residents were informed that the town would deal with Northcoast railroad themselves and that they would create an article for the March 2009 ballot for the town to vote on making Ohio Street (and other streets per the research) a public road since they couldn’t find any documentation on whether the road was public or private.
In March, 2009, Ohio Street became a public road and the residents haven’t heard anymore about having to obtain insurance for the crossing from Northcoast. There is still a question as to who owns the property on Ohio Street but most believe it belongs to the town and/or water district.
Today the road remains open to the 16 or so residentials property owners, who will not now be required to pay to pass over the tracks.
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