Public road or private driveway? Boulder barrier could lead to lawsuit

Orono road use causing dispute among neighbors

Two homeowners in Orono are arguing over who does – and doesn’t – have the right to use a road that has been available since 1994. The argument is leading to both sides pointing fingers, and potentially threatening litigation.

ORONO, Minn. (FOX 9) - The Tuttle family calls it their private driveway, neighbor Clair Rood argues it’s a public road, and the city of Orono says it’s a private driveway within a public right of way. Soon, lawyers may be needed to decide exactly what Hillside Place is.

"Unless you’ve ever gone through this, you could never imagine the pain in the butt that this is," Odell Tuttle said. "We don’t need to go nuclear here. We can figure out a way to work together."

Odell says Hillside Place is the only road his family can use to get home, and he believes his neighbor is degrading it.

Neighbor Clair Rood has received a trespass notice from authorities.

"Who ever heard of issuing a no trespass notice on a public road? I’ve never heard of that before, have you?" Rood told FOX 9 on Monday. "He’s dictating who can use this road."

"He’s trying to paint us as the bad people… everybody has their side of the story," Tuttle responded.

For years, Rood used the road to access and maintain his 2.5-acre property. But now, the Tuttles are installing a boulder barrier along it.

On Monday, as the work continued, the city issued a stop work order, saying the Tuttles did not have a required permit.

"It’s an obstruction. They’re obstructing the road. They’re making it so no one else can use it," Rood said. "It’s an ideology. He wants to own the road. He wants to control the road."

The Tuttles say Rood has no right to access the road, under a 1994 agreement with the city, wherein a previous homeowner was allowed to construct the road within the city’s right of way. In the agreement, just two homes – including the Tuttle home -- were given the sole legal access to it, in exchange for their agreeing to maintain it.

"It wouldn’t be a problem if he simply wanted to use it," Tuttle said. "He comes on it, dumps gravel all over it in piles, tears up the edging, tears up the grading."

Orono’s city administrator says an attorney has reached out to the city about amending the 1994 agreement and clarifying who has road access. However, the city has yet to receive a formal application to initiate that process.

Over the phone, Mayor Denny Welsh also told FOX 9: "I would hope the property owners work together to come to a reasonable solution everybody can live with, that works for both parties to be able to use and access the road, without having to get judges and lawyers involved to settle a gray area legal dispute."