(2/12) The Town Council voted at their February 10 meeting to direct the board's attorney, Jack Gullo, Jr., to prepare the wording for a notice of conveyance in order to unravel issues caused by a misdirected byway.
Gullo briefed the Council at their February 5 workshop regarding a means of correcting property-ownership issues stemming from the misalignment of Westview Drive, a city road which seems to have been mis-constructed sometime in the past.
Westview Drive was not created entirely within the intended path, and somehow meandered onto neighboring land, apparently without anyone taking note of it.
The result is, according to Gullo, Taneytown owns a portion of the roadbed of Westview Drive to a point near where it intersects with Harney Road. From there to Harney Road, Westview treks across private property, thus deviating from town-owned land.
"If you could imagine some years ago before Westview Drive was constructed all the way out... it should have followed (it's intended route) to Harney Road, but for some reason, it didn't, and it follows where it is present day," the attorney stated.
The issue presents a couple of problems, he said. "One: It would be nice to have the actual roadbed be owned by the city, and Two: We own land we don't use, (and) didn't really know we owned. This is all a surprise-shocker to us. So, part of that land is in the Taneytown Crossing project, and part of the land is behind those houses that are basically being used
by the property owners… I guess thinking it's theirs."
"What has to happen to make this right… is we have to swap the land, and it's about that simple," he noted.
The attorney said, "The good news is, that because part of it is involved with the Taneytown Crossing project, we can get them to bear the cost to do this, so the city doesn't have to bear the cost. It's some significant costs… the surveying, the title work, the deeds, the transfers and everything."
"They'll do the work. They transfer to us the roadbed because it's owned by the Harners, and we transfer to them the old road that we don't need anymore," he stated.
"We have to basically say, ‘We don't need it anymore.’ It's surplus, and we have to give (a 20-day) notice of this that we're going to convey it away," Gullo said.
The notice of conveyance will aid the town in transacting the land exchange needed to fix ownership of the roadway.
