02/18/2015

Council begins to consider extending rights in 'paper streets'

The town's 20-year claim on proposed but undeveloped roads in subdivisions, known as "paper streets", is drawing to a close, so the Town Council is beginning to think about whether to extend that claim another 20 years.

At their meeting Feb. 9, 2015, councilors received an inventory and report on 46 paper streets, detailing their location, length and other information - including current uses for utilities, private accessways or trails. The report, prepared by the town planning office and including aerial photographs of each street location, will be discussed at a future workshop.

Paper streets are roads that were laid out in subdivisions but never constructed or accepted by the town as public ways. The town has "incipient dedication" rights in them, meaning it has a right to accept them once they are constructed to town standards. Lot owners in the subdivision also have rights to use paper streets. In Cape Elizabeth, as in other Maine communities, many paper streets are part of subdivisions dating back 100 years or more.

In 1997 the Legislature required Maine municipalities to file a petition if they wished to extend rights in paper streets for the next 20 years. Cape Elizabeth officials extended rights in all but eight of the 51 paper streets existing at the time. Now, with the end of the 20-year extension looming, the Town Council must decide whether to extend rights another 20 years.

The 34-page report councilors received on Feb. 9 recommends the town extend public rights in all but four paper streets: Hazelwood, off of Lindenwood Road in the Oakhurst neighborhood; Thompson Road, off of Shore Road north of Beach Bluff Terrace; Allen Road, off of Mitchell Road between Belfield and Stonegate roads; and, a 200-foot, unnamed road off Pine Ridge Road in the Broad Cove subdivision.

Councilors will receive more specific recommendations as the review process continues, the report says.

The workshop has not been scheduled, but councilors agreed the meeting would include a private session with attorney Durwood Parkinson, who has been advising the council on paper streets. Jamie Wagner, a member of the council, requested that a townwide map depicting the locations of the paper streets also be provided.