Deerfield wins Steam Mill Road case

The view of Steam Mill Road just before 34 Steam Mill Road, where it turns from a paved road into a dirt one. STAFF FILE PHOTO/CHRIS LARABEE
Published: 12-30-2024 8:09 AM |
DEERFIELD — After more than three years in Land Court, a judge has ruled in favor of Deerfield in the case of whether the entirety of the length of Steam Mill Road is a public way.
The town and the Billings family have been entangled in the lawsuit over the status of Steam Mill Road, with the town claiming the road is only a public way up to about 35 Steam Mill Road, which was the layout accepted by Town Meeting in 1952. The Billings, on the other hand, have claimed Steam Mill Road, at least up to their property, is a public way based on a 1748 deed presented to town officials from The Proprietors of the East Mountain Division, as well as the fact that Deerfield provided maintenance on the road for decades, until it instructed former Highway Superintendent Kevin Scarborough to cease work there in 2019. The town officially voted to discontinue maintenance on that stretch of road in September 2021 and the Billings filed the complaint in November of that year.
In his Dec. 18 decision, Land Court Judge Robert Foster declared the Billings family “failed to provide enough evidence, ‘by strong implication,’ that the town accepted the portion of Steam Mill Road described here as the disputed way as a public way.” Opening statements for the case were taken in Greenfield on April 24 and a second day of arguments were held on April 25 in Boston. A final session was held on July 30.
“I find that the evidence does not support an inference that the town accepted the disputed portion of Steam Mill Road as a public way,” Foster wrote.
Foster explained there are three processes in which an existing way can become a public way. With this case involving a deed from 1748, Foster examined it through the “most unusual” method of acceptance, which allowed a public way to be accepted through ”a dedication by the owner to public use, permanent and unequivocal, coupled with an express or implied acceptance by the public.” He noted this process “stopped being valid around 170 years ago, but it does occasionally arise.”
The Billings argued the town implied its acceptance of the road in 1748, as it formed a committee to swap land with Rev. Jonathan Ashley if the committee found it to be satisfactory, which it did two days later. The deed conveying the land to the town was signed, sealed and delivered to two town officials. Deerfield on the other hand, argued that dedication of private ways to municipalities can only go into effect by a formal Town Meeting vote and the two 1748 town officials who received the deed did not have the authority to accept the land.
Foster agreed with the town’s argument, as it is “more likely that the delivery of the 1748 deed was a condition precedent to the Town’s official acceptance, by and through a Town Meeting vote.” While it is “undisputed” that the road was laid out in 1741, Foster said no evidence was presented showing the town accepted the road. At least 10 recorded plans were included as exhibits in the case, although Foster said six of the plans refer to the 1952 layout and denote the “unknown status” of the disputed way.
“The Billings have not offered any evidence of the town’s express acceptance of the disputed way, such as by a Town Meeting vote … Instead, the Billings contend that such acceptance was implied,” Foster said. “If the town had understood that it had accepted the 1748 deed and had thus accepted Steam Mill Road as a public way in 1748 there would have been no reason to repeat the acceptance of a portion of Steam Mill Road in 1952. The acceptance of the 1952 layout is evidence that the town did not believe it had accepted Steam Mill Road as public in 1748.”
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The second core piece of the Billings argument was the town’s “continual treatment, repairs and maintenance of the disputed way for 71 years between 1948 and 2019 is evidence of its acceptance,” which was backed by testimony at the Franklin County Justice Center in April. Deerfield argued there was a “lack of evidence or maintenance of the disputed way “between 1748 and 1846” and public use was nonexistent, as there were no bus stops or mail delivery and the road beyond the last house is wooded and unimproved.
Deerfield also argued its maintenance in that 71 year period was “gratuitous and provided safe access for emergency services,” which Foster said is an “allowed expenditure of public funds on private ways.”
“I find that the presented evidence of the town’s maintenance is the kind of ‘upkeep’ allowed for the benefit of the public and does not justify a finding that the disputed way is public,” Foster wrote, adding the 2019 instruction to Scarborough is further evidence the town did not believe it had a duty to maintain the disputed way. “Finally, I cannot infer from the gap in evidence of the town’s maintenance of the disputed way between 1748 to 1948 that the town continually treated the disputed way as public. Rather, that gap supports the opposite inference that the town did not maintain the disputed way during those 200 years.”
The final aspect of the Billings’ argument was that the town implied acceptance of the length of Steam Mill Road through its acceptance of Chapter 90 program funds, which reimburses towns for roadway maintenance. The formula for the program includes the number of miles the town reports to the state as a locally owned road. Foster, however, cited Town of Boxborough v. Jonathan Spring Realty Trust, a 1969 case affirming that the listing of a road as public by a town in annual estimates for financial assistance does “not warrant a conclusion that a public way was thus established.”
Foster dismissed the Billings’ complaint with prejudice. The case, however, is not fully resolved, as National Grid intervened in the lawsuit because it is seeking a prescriptive easement to continue to maintain its power lines in the area, which extend beyond 60 Steam Mill Road.
A status conference is set for Jan. 16.
Chris Larabee can be reached at clarabee@recorder.com.