LaSalle Co. v. Town of Hillsdale
| Citation | 199 A.D.2d 685,605 N.Y.S.2d 154 |
| Parties | LASALLE COMPANY, Respondent, v. TOWN OF HILLSDALE et al., Defendants, and Collipe Associates, Appellant. |
| Decision Date | 09 December 1993 |
| Court | New York Supreme Court Appellate Division |
Francis J. Roche, Hudson, for appellant.
Rapport, Meyers, Griffen & Whitbeck, P.C. (Jason L. Shaw, of counsel), Hudson, for respondent.
Before WEISS, P.J., and MIKOLL, YESAWICH, MAHONEY and CASEY, JJ.
Appeal from a judgment of the Supreme Court (Connor, J.), entered April 5, 1993 in Columbia County, upon a decision of the court in favor of plaintiff.
In 1988, plaintiff, a real estate partnership, purchased land in the Town of Hillsdale, Columbia County. After its proposed subdivision of the property was rejected by the Town Planning Board on the ground that the parcel had no public road frontage, plaintiff brought this action seeking a declaration that a particular length of roadway (hereinafter the access road), extending from Taconic Creek Road to plaintiff's property line and slightly beyond, is in fact a public road. Collipe Associates, which owns an adjoining parcel through which the access road passes before it reaches plaintiff's land, was joined as a defendant along with the Town of Hillsdale and the Town's Highway Superintendent. Several neighbors moved for, and were granted, permission to intervene as defendants.
After a bench trial at which testimony was given by several surveyors, Town employees, an archaeologist and a title expert, among others, Supreme Court found in favor of plaintiff, declaring the access road to be a public road 15.5 feet in width. Collipe appeals.
The physical evidence proffered on plaintiff's behalf, including old maps of the area which show a continuous roadway leading to a house on plaintiff's property, coupled with the opinions of plaintiff's experts, provides ample basis for Supreme Court's factual conclusion that the access road was a public road in the 19th century (see, Thoreson v. Penthouse Intl., 80 N.Y.2d 490, 495, 591 N.Y.S.2d 978, 606 N.E.2d 1369; Levy v. Braley, 176 A.D.2d 1030, 1033, 574 N.Y.S.2d 873), and given the lack of any evidence of abandonment, that it is still a public road (see, Matter of Shawangunk Holdings v. Superintendent of Highways of Town of Shawangunk, 101 A.D.2d 905, 907, 475 N.Y.S.2d 602).
Moreover, there is sufficient credible record evidence to justify Supreme Court's alternative finding that, regardless of its date of construction, the access road has become a...
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