Website with information related to PeaksIsland paper roadsWebsite URL: http://pi-paper-roads.deciph.com/, orgoogle “Peaks Island Paper Roads”

Timothy WyantMarch 23, 2016

These slides can be found on the website at http://pi-paper-roads.deciph.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/meeting-slides.pdf

Table of contents

1. Introduction

2. Some history

3. The 1997 review process

4. The 2017 review process

5. The paper roads website

1

Introduction

The website

• This paper roads website is my personal project.• It is not an official project of the City of Portland or of the PeaksIsland Council

• Information, documents, and maps related to paper roads arescattered in many places, and often hard to find

• Many of these items are useful, but tend to be:• Narrow or incomplete• Obsolete• Inconsistent• Of unclear origin

• So I began assembling relevant items on this website

2

Some history

Subdivisions – mostly circa 1900 – two examplesWelch Hilborne and Charlotte Shaw subdivisions

3

Welch Hilborne plat (1921)

4

Welch Hilborne plat (1921) – zoomed to title

5

Welch Hilborne plat (1921) – zoomed to GEM theatre and ferrylanding

6

Welch Hilborne plat (1921) – rotated so North is up (more or less)

7

Welch Hilborne paper streets

Paper Streets

Streets to be Vacated

Unaccepted Streets with Houses to be Continued

Unaccepted Streets without Houses to be Continued

Undesignated Road with Houses

Undesignated Road without Houses8

Welch-Hil. east – aerial photo with today’s parcel boundaries

9

Paper Streets – Charlotte Shaw

Paper Streets

Streets to be Vacated

Unaccepted Streets with Houses to be Continued

Unaccepted Streets without Houses to be Continued

Undesignated Road with Houses

Undesignated Road without Houses10

Paper Streets – Charlotte R. Shaw plat

11

Subdivision plats and aerial photos on the website

• Subdivision plats are available from Cumberland County, andcan be accessed online

• However, the process is not always as straightforward as onemight wish

• I have many of the plats, and plan to post them to the websitein the near future

• The aerial photo with address points and parcel boundaries Iobtained from the City

• It is already posted to the website for viewing or downloading

12

The 1997 review process

Maine statewide review of Paper Streets – 1997

13

What paper streets look like

14

Retention of public rights

15

Result of the 1997 review in Portland and Peaks

• The City filed the required list with the Registry of Deeds• This list identified 435 paper streets in 200 subdivisions• Of these, 41 were vacated, and 29 partially vacated• For Peaks, the list named 102 paper streets in 29 subdivisions• Of these, 5 were vacated, and 3 partially vacated• In at least one or two instances, the City neglected to include apaper street on the list. The omitted streets were “deemedvacated” – that is, the City surrendered any public rights bydefault.

16

The 1997 paper streets process

Larry MeadCity staffer for

Peaks

Natalie BurnsCity attorney

Art AstaritaPeaks volunteer

PINAPI neighborhood

association

Walked every PI paper street

Recommendations

Legalitiesre paper streets

City of Portland

Drew map of PI paper roads?

Paper streets list filed with

Registry of Deeds

Digitized paper streets -allowing computer maps

Peaks Island paper streets after 1997 review −− South−West

Copies being placed on the PI paper roads website

17

The post-1997 map of Peaks Island paper streets

18

The post-1997 map of Peaks Island paper streets – zoomed north

19

The 2017 review process

Status of the 2017 review process

• In September 2017, the City must decide what to do with eachpaper street

• Retain all public rights – accept as a street• Retain some rights – easements for some combination ofpedestrian access, utilities, or recreational use

• Give up all public rights

• The City has a working group on paper streets• The group does not yet have anything to release to the public• The Peaks Island Council zoning committee has contacted theworking group with initial questions and concerns

• This PIC committee has been meeting to review paper streetsissues, and will be holding public informational meetings thisspring and summer

20

Some Maine towns are further along

It may be helpful to look at what other towns are doing.

• Cape Elizabeth has published summaries of its review processand proposed treatments of each paper street

• http://www.capeelizabeth.com/home/topics/paper_streets/home.html

• Freeport has a downloadable Word file with a grid of proposedtreatment of each paper street

• http://www.freeportmaine.com/page.php?page_id=101

21

Example actions recommended by Freeport

See the “Paper Streets / Discontinuance” webpage atwww.freeport.maine.com.

• To give up all rights to the roads ...• Retain all rights ...• Retain pedestrian travel and utility right of way ...• To retain a pedestrian and non-motorized vehicle right of way ...• To take no action ... private road

22

“Take no action ... private road”

• The last item on the Freeport list is “Take no action ... privateroad”

• A town’s public rights in a paper road are presumptive – basedonly on appearance of the road on a subdivision plat

• In some instances, further review of deeds can show a “paperroad” is private, with no or limited City access rights

• On Peaks Island, this seems to be the case for some “paperroads” that are in the Evergreen Landing and Quincy M Sterlingsubdivisions

• These will likely be designated as either ”vacate” or somethinglike ”retain existing utility rights of way” at the end of the 2017review

23

Possible “no action” roads on Peaks Island

North tip of Peaks Island, with paper roads from the 1997 list Brown = with houses Blue = without houses

The City may have limited or non-existent access rights in most — or perhaps all — of the “paper roads” in the Evergreen Landing area, based on deed research (colored brown in this excerpt from a map on the website)

24

The paper roads website

The website needs help

• The website is a work in progress• For what is currently on it, I owe thanks to numerous people. Inparticular:

• Tim Murphy• Mike Murray• Art Astarita (who, in addition to digitizing the paper roads maps,preserved many documents from the 1997 review)

• The Islander who emailed me about Evergreen Landing streets,but gave no name

• I’m sure some of the things I’ve said on the site are wrong!• Please help!

25

Send contributions, questions, complaints ...

26

Post a comment ...

27

Post a comment ...

28

Appendix

28

Peaks Island north - paper roadswith (brown) andwithout (blue)houses

Peaks Island paper streets after 1997 review −− North

Peaks Island central west - paper roadswith (brown) andwithout(blue) houses

Peaks Island paper streets after 1997 review −− Central−West

Peaks Island central east - paper roads with (brown) andwithout(blue) houses

Peaks Island paper streets after 1997 review −− Central−East

Peaks Island south west - paper roads with (brown) and without(blue) houses

Peaks Island paper streets after 1997 review −− South−West

Peaks Island south east - paper roads with (brown) and without(blue) houses

Peaks Island paper streets after 1997 review −− South−East