05-11-1999 Public Hearing - Woodhill CC

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LINDQUIST & VENNUM p l.l p. I t 1 f i Letter to Clifford M. Greene. Esq November 20, 1998 Page 4 Lafayette . 567 N.W.2d at 745 (emphasis added). In a case that is strikingly similar to the Woodhill situation, "public use" was established solely through use by a country club property’s prior owner and his invitees. Leeper v. Hampton Hill, Inc.. 186 N.W.2d 765 (Minn. 1971). Leeoer held that an access road that dead-ended in a country club was a public road based on use by the prior owner of the country club property. Like Woodhill. the road in question connected the country club to a larger public street (County Road No. 47). The road, Juneau Lane, passed over plaintiff ’s property. The plaintiff in Leeper agreed that Juneau Lane from County Road 47 up to his driveway was a public road, just as Orono agrees that Woodhill Avenue prior to 1988 was a public road only up to the point Woodhill Avenue curved to the south. “However, they [plaintiffs] contend that the trail from their driveway to the Winkler property [now Hampton Hills Country Club] was never established as a public road but as merely a part of the private property.” 186 N.W.2d at 766-67. The Court found that the disputed portion of Juneau Lane was established as a public road in 1955 before plaintiffs purchased their property because it was used by was “the various occupants" of the country club property and "any person desiring to visit such occupants or to do business with them." Id. at 767. I have enclosed a copy of the Affidavit of John Pillsbury. Mr. Pillsbury owned the property subsequently developed into Woodhill Ridge from 1946 through 1988. Mr. Pillsbury’s affidavit establishes that he knew of the existence of Woodhill Avenue and knew that it was used openly by the public. He raised no objections to use by the public. He intended for the road to be used as a public road up to the Woodhill property line. He knew the road had been used as a public road to Woodhill before he purchased his land in 1946. Further. Mr. Pillsbury’s correspondence which we obtained from the City’s files on Woodhill Avenue confirms his intent to dedicate Woodhill Avenue as a public road. In 1979 he wrote to the City complaining about the trucks Mr. Wagener had parked on that portion of the road east of Mr. Wagoner ’s driveway (i.e., the portion of the road that curved south of the platted road). Mr. Pillsbury informed the City that it is the City’s responsibility to exercise its "governmental function” to take care of trucks blocking a public roadway. Both the City Manager and the City Police Chief agreed. The City Manager acknowledged both the historical maintenance of Woodhill Avenue by the City of Orono and the status of Woodhill Avenue as a public street. The Police Chief, at the request of the IXk« I0744S0 I L