Bill Text: MO HB1524 | 2012 | Regular Session | Engrossed
Bill Title: Specifies that the owners of property abutting a private road in the absence of any other agreement may petition the court to establish a plan of maintenance or improvement
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2012-05-18 - Placed on Informal Calendar [HB1524 Detail]
Download: Missouri-2012-HB1524-Engrossed.html
SECOND REGULAR SESSION
[PERFECTED]
HOUSE COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE NO. 2 FOR
96TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
5554L.05P D. ADAM CRUMBLISS, Chief Clerk
AN ACT
To repeal section 228.368, RSMo, and to enact in lieu thereof four new sections relating to the improvement and maintenance of private roads.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the state of Missouri, as follows:
Section A. Section 228.368, RSMo, is repealed and four new sections enacted in lieu thereof, to be known as sections 228.341, 228.368, 228.369, and 228.374, to read as follows:
228.341. For purposes of sections 228.341 to 228.374, "private road" with regard to a proceeding to obtain a maintenance order means any private road established under this chapter or any easement of access, regardless of how created, which provides a means of ingress and egress by motor vehicle for any owner or owners of residences from such homes to a public road. A private road does not include any road owned by the United States or any agency or instrumentality thereof, or the state of Missouri, or any county, municipality, political subdivision, special district, instrumentality, or agency of the state of Missouri. Nothing in sections 228.341 to 228.374 shall be deemed to apply to any road created by or included in any recorded plat referencing or referenced in an indenture or declaration creating an owner's association, regardless of whether such road is designated as a common element. Nothing in sections 228.341 to 228.374 shall be deemed to apply to any land or property owned or operated by any railroad regulated by the Federal Railroad Administration.
228.368. The costs of the proceedings to establish or widen a private road incurred up to and including the filing of the commissioners' report shall be paid by the plaintiff; and the court, as to any costs incurred in proceedings subsequent thereto, including the costs of the jury trial, may make such order as in its discretion may be deemed just, including, in the case of a proceeding to obtain a maintenance order, assessing the costs to all benefitted homeowners.
228.369. 1. For any private road subject to the use of more than one homeowner, in the absence of a prior order or written agreement for the maintenance of the private road, including covenants contained in deeds or state or local permits providing for the maintenance of a private road, when adjoining homeowners who are benefitted by the use of an abutting private road, or homeowners who have an easement to use a private road, collectively owners or benefitted owners are unable to agree in writing upon a plan of maintenance for the maintenance, repair, or improvement of the private road and including the assessment and apportionment of costs for the plan of maintenance, one or more of the owners may petition the circuit court for an order establishing a plan of maintenance.
2. The cost of a plan of maintenance for a private road shall be apportioned among the owners of residences abutting the private road and holders of easements to use the private road, with the cost apportioned commensurate with the use and benefit to residences benefitted by the access, as mutually agreed by the benefitted homeowners or as ordered by the court with such method of apportionment as agreed by the homeowners or ordered by the court, including, but not limited to, equal division, or proportionate to the residential assessed value, or to front footage, or to usage or benefit.
3. The court may implement the same procedures to order and subsequently determine a plan of maintenance for a private road as provided in this chapter for establishing or widening a private road, including the apportionment and compensation of disinterested commissioners to determine the plan and the apportionment of costs.
4. Where the homeowners who are benefitted by the private road are not able to agree upon the designation of a supervisor to complete the plan of maintenance, the commissioners appointed by the court shall designate a supervisor who shall be compensated for his or her services in the same manner as the commissioners.
5. Any agreement executed by all the homeowners, or final order approving, a plan of maintenance for a private road shall be recorded with the county recorder of deeds.
6. One or more adjoining homeowners or holders of any easement to use a private road may bring an action to enforce the plan of maintenance for a private road, whether as mutually agreed or as ordered by the court.
228.374. 1. A prior agreement or court order establishing a plan of maintenance may be amended or modified and may be restated at any time by a recorded agreement signed by all the homeowners or other benefitted owners.
2. No court proceeding under section 228.369 to amend, modify, or restate a plan of maintenance may be filed sooner than seven years from the entry of a prior order, except upon a prima facie showing that the real property benefitted by the private road has been developed or divided in a manner rendering the plan of maintenance obsolete or showing that the existing apportionment of the use and benefit to residences benefitted by the access to the private road is no longer equitable.
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