SECOND REGULAR SESSION
94TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
INTRODUCED BY REPRESENTATIVE FRANZ.
Read 1st time February 18, 2008 and copies ordered printed.
D. ADAM CRUMBLISS, Chief Clerk
AN ACT
To repeal section 229.010, RSMo, and to enact in lieu thereof one new section relating to public road width.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the state of Missouri, as follows:
Section A. Section 229.010, RSMo, is repealed and one new section enacted in lieu thereof, to be known as section 229.010, to read as follows:
229.010. 1. For purposes of this section, the following terms shall mean:
(1) "Current use limits", the defined line between the apparent use by the public and the adjoining landowner and may include, but not be limited to:
(a) Grading of road surfaces, ditches, and slopes, or mowing or trimming of grass, trees, or brush by the road overseer;
(b) Fencing, tilling of land, or mowing grass and lawns by the adjoining landowner; or
(c) Timber, trees, and shrubs maintained by the adjoining landowner;
(2) "Previously established surveyed centerline", a land survey, an easement, or right-of-way, which is currently recorded in the public records, from which a surveyed centerline may be determined through the use of such recorded information;
(3) "Road", all traveled surfaces and appurtenant medians, shoulders, ditches, and slopes and back slopes, in total combination;
(4) "Surveyed centerline", a measured line, consisting of a series of measured lengths and angles or curves, that are referenced to official land survey monuments, from which, in combination with the width, the road may be physically located on the earth or plotted out in relationship to land ownership records;
(5) "Width", the total of the described distances in feet on each side of any surveyed centerline. Distance in feet need not always be the same on each side of the surveyed centerline, but shall be specified when different from an equal distance on each side of the surveyed centerline.
2. All public roads in this state which hereafter may be established shall not be less than [thirty] sixty feet in total width, the traveled surface of which being no less than twenty feet of the total width.
3. Where a record of a previously established surveyed centerline is not available, the establishment of a surveyed centerline shall be made by utilizing the average center of the space between the current use limits of the land on each side of the road at issue. Any one landowner with land adjoining a public road may make a written request to the overseer of the public road to establish a surveyed centerline. For any such request, the overseer of the public road shall conduct or order a survey to establish the centerline and record a copy of the survey of the centerline with the recorder of deeds for the county in which the road is located, and shall be responsible for all costs associated with the surveyed centerline establishment. Any such surveyed centerline establishment request made by a landowner shall be acted on and properly completed within ninety days of the original request. In the event a road overseer fails to comply with this ninety-day requirement, the landowner may order a survey and charge the road overseer for all such surveyed centerline establishment costs.
4. Written notice of an intended surveyed centerline establishment request shall be made by the requesting landowner to all landowners on the opposite side of the centerline to be established at least thirty days prior to the official request to the road overseer of such public road made under the authority granted in subsection 3 of this section. The written notice shall be delivered by certified mail with proof of delivery required. A copy of the notice letter and any responses made by any landowner on the opposite side of the surveyed centerline to be established shall be included with, or attached to, the official request for a surveyed centerline establishment.
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