Another thread relating to vacating a street
A subdivision/addition was created in 1870 with a nice plat on file with the county. Block 9 is much like a half block with no alley. It consists of six lots, each being 160′ east to west by 60′ north to south. Streets are on the north, west and south sides with the east side bordering the edge of the subdivision. Block 8 is directly to the south across a 72′ wide street. The tax map shows the street to be vacated such that the south lot of Block 9 should have the north half of the street attached to it and the north lot of Block 8 should have the south half of the street attached to it.
The current deed and all of its predecessors involving the north lot of Block 8 make no mention whatsoever of the south half of the street being attached. The most recent deed for the south lot in Block 9 is a quit claim deed from the ex-wife to the ex-husband. It mentions “and a tract 37.51 feet wide on the south of Lot 11 containing the north half of vacated street”. I discover the deed to the couple a few years earlier for the entire block plus the above description involving 37.51 feet. All predecessor deeds make no mention of the street being vacated.
There is no record of that portion of that street being vacated anywhere in the various records maintained in the Register of Deeds Office. There is no recorded survey showing such a vacation action and/or the mystical distance of 37.51 feet. I did find a survey that refers to another survey done by a surveyor who left the area over 30 years ago that shows bars having been set on the south line of Lot 11 in Block 9 but no mention of anything on the street center line. The only way I can come up with the creation of the 37.51 dimension is if the earlier surveyor had failed to recognize the plat width of 72′ instead of the 75′ streets that were platted in the original town (not this addition thereto). There is absolutely no record in the courthouse of such a vacation occurring at any time.
The entire office of the County Appraiser which creates the tax maps is closed until February 1 due to someone getting COVID and being in close contact with everyone else in that department. Big signs hang on the three entry doors explaining this.
FYI, I know someone is going to ask how the south lot of six lots can possibly be Lot 11. The standard blocks consist of 12 lots as described with a central alley running north to south between the west six and the east six. The numbering system used has Lot 1 being the northwest lot, Lot 2 being the northeast lot, Lot 11 being the southwest lot and Lot 12 being the southeast lot. Thus all lots in the west half are odd numbers and all in the east half are even numbers. Thus in the half-block which is Block 9 all six lots are odd numbers.
The happens to be an old fence down what would appear to be the center of the street to nowhere and occupation very clearly agrees with that. My nagging need to be perfect insists that I discover some document in existence that guided the Appraisers Office to decide that was the location of the true boundary. It’s a good thing the client is in no big hurry.
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