Myself and five of my neighbors all have a 25 foot conservation easement running through the back of our property and it is included in our plat of survey. This easement was put into place by the residential builder of our subdivision approximately 8 years ago (prior to a subdivision being built).
During the last year almost every single tree has succumb to an infestation and has died - basically all that is left is an invasive form of buckthorn. We have been working with our town for the last 6 months to try to get this lifted as there is nothing to protect and every time we are at a town meeting we get a different answer - first it was we will lift it, then it was we all have to negotiate to come to an agreement, then we heard we need to notify residents within 500 feet of what we plan to do, then we heard - that we have absolutely no say in what transpires and the town is going to do whatever it is that they want.
We also have been told in a round about way that as long as the grantor & grantee (us and the town) agree on an avenue to proceed - anything is possible and we heard just last night - that now - we have to amend the annexation agreeement, get every single person in our subdivision to agree to lift the easement and then have a public hearing.
I do not know where to begin - it smells fishy to me - like they are trying to cover up something. It does appear after some initial digging that the town did not follow the proper channels in instituting this easement in the first place and now myself and my neighbors are burdened with this very unattractive parcel of land.
Can you please advise on how I proceed from here? Can they just make a decision - even though we pay taxes on this land and it is on our plat of survey??
During the last year almost every single tree has succumb to an infestation and has died - basically all that is left is an invasive form of buckthorn. We have been working with our town for the last 6 months to try to get this lifted as there is nothing to protect and every time we are at a town meeting we get a different answer - first it was we will lift it, then it was we all have to negotiate to come to an agreement, then we heard we need to notify residents within 500 feet of what we plan to do, then we heard - that we have absolutely no say in what transpires and the town is going to do whatever it is that they want.
We also have been told in a round about way that as long as the grantor & grantee (us and the town) agree on an avenue to proceed - anything is possible and we heard just last night - that now - we have to amend the annexation agreeement, get every single person in our subdivision to agree to lift the easement and then have a public hearing.
I do not know where to begin - it smells fishy to me - like they are trying to cover up something. It does appear after some initial digging that the town did not follow the proper channels in instituting this easement in the first place and now myself and my neighbors are burdened with this very unattractive parcel of land.
Can you please advise on how I proceed from here? Can they just make a decision - even though we pay taxes on this land and it is on our plat of survey??
