NEWS

Gravel road dispute near Mora, MN is back in court

The township board cited that law in stating it can’t make a claim to Hornet Street and saying it belongs to Schmoll and his mother.

“Just on a purely legal perspective — and I know there’s emotion and common sense involved — but the law prevails,“ said Bob Alsop, an attorney representing Hillman Township. ”And the law says we don’t own it. They have a road to their property, and that’s all the township has to provide.”

Advocates for Minnesota townships fear downstream effects if all of Hornet Street is deemed a township road.

As rural population decreases, some township roads are barely used, and Minnesota laws allow for townships to remove them as a taxpayer burden.

“This family feels there’s some kind of entitlement. The township is saying, no, there’s not an entitlement,” said Steve Fenske, general counsel for the Minnesota Association of Townships. “The township is balancing budgets, balancing the desires of lots of different taxpayers. There isn’t a right to a road in the place that’s most convenient to the landowner.”

In a court filing last week, the Crismans’ attorney, Erik Hansen, argued the township’s position is “both illogical and impractical.” Abandoning such roads when they’re in use would call into question similar roads across the state and “leave people without access to their homes, businesses, and communities,” he argued.


Source link

Related Articles

Back to top button