Small Steps

While awaiting better weather, we are trying to make some progress where opportunities present themselves.

Since the Marvin windows and doors have arrived (Scott called on Tuesday), I realized we might be able to move ahead with the production of the stained glass window to be mounted above the south door. The plan that we discussed with the art glass company in early December was to take the actual Marvin window to the glass shop and let them fit their stained glass to the frame. I call the "Salesman" Mike (Marvin dealer) today to see if they will release that window to us. Mike said that would not be a problem and he would go find the window. I then called Gerald (art glass company) to see what their current schedule looks like. Gerald was not in, but I talked with Kim. I told her that the window had arrived and we were wondering if their schedule would be permit work on the glass if we were to bring the window over. Kim remembered our early December conversation and said she would discuss it with Gerald when he came in and have him call us back. By the end of the day, we had not received a return call from Gerald.
     __________________________________________________________________________

Yesterday, we received another response from Christine (Alderwoman) regarding the question of the status of the roadway (aka "alley", aka "driveway") along the backyard. Her brief note said that she was going to consult with the City Counselor's office and that she has sometimes found conflicting information when looking into issues like this. She further suggested that we might want to bring in a surveyor or real estate attorney and requested our thoughts.

In our lengthy response, we noted that there have been several surveys done over the last 12 years and the property boundaries appear to be very clear. We told her that we were interested in what the City Counselor had to say, but that we felt the main thing that has to happen is for the City to officially acknowledge any jurisdiction and/or obligation it has regarding this roadway. If the answer is "none", then we are back to our original understanding that it is private property. However, since it has City street lights and utility lines along it and a main sewer line buried down the middle of it, our original question comes back to the surface. If we decide to pave a portion of this roadway, are there any approvals, permissions or notifications required to avoid any imperial conflicts or other unintended consequences?

Since we moved in, the property boundaries of all the properties bordering this roadway have been marked several times, for a variety of reasons. There is no doubt that the individual property lines converge in the middle of this roadway. Being the case, it seems clear to us that the City does not own this alley, but rather it is shared by the owners of the individual properties. However, this raises another unsettling question. Is there a publicly recorded easement that would prevent any of the owners from reclaiming their portion of the alley, thus denying access to others? Sometime in the distant past, access on the east end of the roadway was closed off and that portion of the roadway was reclaimed by the two property owners on either side of it. This is the portion of the roadway that Christine said she found City documents "vacating" that portion of the roadway. It was this finding that started the on-going question of ownership of the roadway. If the roadway is private property, there would not have been anything for the City to vacate.

There are four property owners to the west of us. If any of these four owners were to "reclaim" their portion of this roadway, it would be devastating to us, denying us access to our new garage. There are a total of ten properties that border this roadway. Of these, only four properties rely upon this roadway for access to their off-street parking. Ours is one of these four properties, with the other three being east of us. With the east end of the roadway already blocked, if we loose our access from the west, the other three property owners east of us will as well.

I went back to our mortgage documents, looking for some statement or notation that such an easement might exist. I could not find anything. The several appraisals that we have had done actually stated that there were no conditions (including easements) that could negatively impact the value of the house. Anyway, this is still an open question. In our response to Christine, we asked her where we might start our search of public records for such a recorded easement. If there is none, then the only recourse we would have, should one of our westerly neighbors decide to reclaim their roadway property, would be to file a lawsuit to prevent.