I'm searching for a copy of a Notice for Sale of public land in a paper. Looking to sell an abandoned road way to adjacent owners, but still have to publish notice as per 263.001 Local Government Code.

Well, I'm not an expert, but since no one else has responded......

It was my understanding that if a county road was abandoned/discontinued/etc. (by the county),
the land on each side of the road up to the center line reverts back to the landowners. I've never heard of SELLING a county road back to the people who already owned it.

LISA, can you confirm?

My thought is that it depends on what type of estate the County has.

If the County has an easement by prescription because the County has maintained the road since some Commissioner first drug a mule powered grader over it in 1911, then closing/abandoning/vacvating the road terminates the County's estate, like the popping of a soap bubble. I always tell people that after that, the County has no stake in who owns the road, but we will gladly provide a District Courtroom in which the claimants may litigate the issue of ownership.

If, on the other hand, the County owns the road in fee simple, then interest must be sold when it is closed/vacated/abandoned (unless the County just wants to keep the roadway and use it to store dirt or something). The adjoining landowners are each offered 1/2 of the roadway, at the price set by an appraiser hired by the County. If they agree to buy at that price, you can sell without further fuss. If they do not, then you have to advertise the land for sale just like any other piece of real property the County owns.

I think. All the roads we get rid of are easements, so sales don't really come up. Contacting Lisa is what I plan to do if that ever somes up.

Transportation Code sec. 251.058(b) provides:

"Title to a public road or portion of a public road that is closed, abandoned, and vacated to the center line of the road vests on the date the order is signed by the county judge in the owner of the property toat abuts the portion of the road being closed, abandoned, and vacated. A copy of the order shall be filed in the deed records of the county and serves as the official instrument of conveyance fromt he county to the owner of the abutting property."

I have a couple of objections to relying just on �251.058 Transportation Code.

The first objection is that there is an AG's Opinion from 1994, that states �251.058 merely codifies the common law rule with regard to easements that, upon abandonment of the easement by the owner of the dominent estate, the easement automatically merges with the servient estate. The County sells nothing because, by abandoning its easement, it has nothing to sell.

The AG's Opinion went on to specifically state that it did not consider the issue of whether a different rule would apply if the County owned the roadway in fee simple. It left open the question of whether giving the road to the adjoining landowners violated Art III, ��51-52 Texas Counsitution, because the County was surrendering propery without compensation.

I don't know if that issue has been resolved by a new case or AG's Opinion.

My second problem with �251.058 is that, even if all the county has is an easement, �251.058 assumes that the adjoining landowners have an equal right of reversion. We have a number of roads where 100% of the road is owned by the landowner on one side, and nothing is owned by the landowner on the other side. I don't see how, if we abandon a road, we can deprive the landowner of fee title to 1/2 of a road he has fee tile to(subject to our easement), especially when has been paying taxes on the entire road.
That looks like a taking to me.

In the situations I have had, I can't prove that we own the road, so have treated it as an easement. Absent proof to the contrary, when the Commissioners formally act on the road, I make sure that the minutes reflect the return of the land to the adjacent landowners, then send them a certified copy of the commissioners court minutes. The smart ones then have them recorded in the deed records.

If one landowner has been paying taxes on the road, it seems to me that they would have a claim either to the land or to reimbursement. (The next question is, if you have a county road map, why is the road on the tax rolls?)

I have not had a situation in which the county owned the road. Take a look at GA-0471. The AG reaches the conclusion that some drainage easements must be sold by the county and do not revert. Not particularly practica, as the county won't come close to recouping the costs, but - if it is required for the ditches, it would probably be required if the county owns the land over which the road runs.

Just my opinion which, in some circles, has the same worth as a flat Coke....

thank you all for your help, it has been invaluable.

Victor