Anyone know about private ways?

[glitterbec.livejournal.com]

I live on a private way in the Davis Square area & am looking for some answers about plowing. My street is a bit of a hill & the ice makes it impossible for my little car to get to my driveway...forcing me to take up a street parking spot that someone else could have.

Do private ways ever get plowed?

I tried finding answers on the Somerville website, but found nothing. Thanks for any information!

Comments

[ifotismeni]

i live on a private way as well. you guys need to band together and hire a guy to plow (split the bill between the households). the city won't plow.

[derekp.livejournal.com]

Conversely you could ban together and petition the city to become a public way. I don't see any advantages in being private.

[ifotismeni]

well, we have private assigned parking spaces for one thing, which means i have a guaranteed parking spot on the street and can tow if anyone else parks there. we still get trash pickup, so aside from hiring a private guy to plow our street, the parking situation is a definite advantage.

[ron_newman]

One advantage: you manage your own parking. Only residents of your street (or approved guests) can park there, and you can tow away anyone else.

[chumbolly.livejournal.com]

One disadvantage: repaving, when the time comes.

Most private ways will be subject to an easement agreement amongst the abutters that would be in the chain of title to your property. If you got title insurance when you bought, to find the easement agreement, look on Schedule B to the policy which will contain the "exceptions to title." It should list the easement as an exception. Then take the "book and page" reference and look it up at cambridgedeeds.com using that reference. You'll be able to pull up the whole easement document online, presuming it's not ancient. If done well, that agreement will address how issues such as plowing and other types of maintenance are to be handled, and then you'll know what to do. Easy-squeezy!