John T. Seyfarth, Jr. v. Adams County Board of Supervisors
John T. Seyfarth, Jr. v. Adams County Board of Supervisors
Opinion
¶1. The Adams County Board of Supervisors (Board) designated Mount Airy Plantation Road as a public road, placing it on the official county road register in 2000. John Seyfarth petitioned the Board to abandon the portion of the road that dead ends into his property. He alleged that people were using the road to reach his property and trespass on it. The Board declined to abandon the road, denied Seyfarth's request for damages, and did not address his requests that the Board take action to abate the nuisances he experienced. Seyfarth appealed to the circuit court, which affirmed the Board's decisions not to abandon the road and not to award damages. But the circuit court ordered the Board to reasonably abate any nuisances to Seyfarth. Seyfarth appeals the circuit court's ruling to affirm the Board's decision not to abandon the road and not to award damages, and the Board cross-appeals the order that it abate any nuisances. Because Seyfarth has no remedy on the record before this Court, this Court affirms the circuit court's judgment affirming the Board's decisions declining to abandon the road and declining to award damages. But because, on this record, the Board has no legal authority to abate any nuisance in the manners suggested, this Court reverses and renders the circuit court's order mandating that the Board abate any nuisance.
FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY
¶2. In 1998, the Legislature passed a law that required each county board of supervisors to prepare and adopt an official map designating all public roads on the county road system on or before July 1, 2000.
2012). The Legislature further explained that the legislative intent for the proceedings and public hearing for the initial adoption of the roads
are not intended to lay out, open, designate or otherwise establish new public roads, but to document and record existing roads which are, at the time of the initial adoption of said map and register, adjudicated by the board, consistent with fact, to be public roads by dedication, under the methods provided by statute, or by prescription and required by public convenience and necessity.
¶3. Mount Airy Plantation Road dead ends into property owned by Seyfarth. The portion that traverses Seyfarth's land provides access to only one other property, and that property has a deeded perpetual easement and right-of-way over the portion of the road that must be used to access it. Seyfarth alleged that the public's use of the portion of the road that dead ends onto his property has created a nuisance. Deer guts were being dumped on his property, hunters have trespassed and even constructed deer stands on Seyfarth's property, and his cattle have been shot and injured.
¶4. In March 2014, Seyfarth twice approached the Board and asked that a portion of Mount Airy Plantation Road be removed from the county road system. Also in March 2014, several residents and landowners along Mount Airy Plantation Road signed a petition asking the Board to keep the road public. 1 On July 18, 2016, Seyfarth appeared before the Board and requested that the Board abandon the portion of Mount Airy Plantation Road that encroaches on his property, declare a variance restricting public use of the portion of the road, take action to abate the nuisances to Seyfarth's property caused by the road, and/or provide just compensation to Seyfarth for the encroachment on his property. There was testimony that the road had been maintained by the general public since the 1980s. Moreover, the other landowner using the road objected to its abandonment. The Board declined to abandon the portion of the road at issue, and it found that Seyfarth's request for damages was untimely. Seyfarth filed a Petition for Bill of Exceptions and Other Relief in the Adams County Circuit Court, appealing the Board's decision. The circuit court affirmed the Board's decisions not to abandon the portion of the road and not to award damages. However, the circuit court noted that the Board did not address Seyfarth's nuisance concerns and ordered "that the county be required to maintain the road in a reasonable manner so as to reasonably abate any nuisance caused by public use of the road, specifically including those cited and complained of by the Plaintiff."
¶5. Seyfarth appeals, arguing that 1) the court erred in affirming the Board's decision not to abandon the road because no substantial evidence exists that the road is a "public road" and the Board should thus abandon the road, and 2) the Board's decision was arbitrary and capricious. Seyfarth asks this Court to 1) reverse and remand the Board's decision; 2) declare that the road was improperly and without legal notice designated a public road; 3) compel the Board to abandon the road; 4) compel the Board to declare a variance from use of the road, including restricting use from the general public and installing a gate at the point of access to Seyfarth's property, and to take action to prevent the nuisances, including stationing law enforcement continuously at the access point; and 5) order the board to provide just compensation to Seyfarth. The Board cross-appeals, arguing that the court's order to abate the nuisance was beyond the circuit court's authority.
ANALYSIS
1. Standard of Review
¶6. This Court does not disturb the decision of a board of supervisors unless the decision was not supported by substantial evidence, was arbitrary or capricious, was beyond the board's scope or powers, or violated the constitutional or statutory rights of the aggrieved party.
Hooks v. George Cty.
,
2. Law Regarding County Roads
¶7. The Mississippi Constitution places authority over county roads with the county board of supervisors. Miss. Const. art. 6, § 170. It provides that "[t]he board of supervisors [of each county] shall have full jurisdiction over roads, ferries, and bridges, to be exercised in accordance with such regulations as the legislature may prescribe."
¶8. The Legislature also provides that the board of supervisors "
may
... declare any section of the county road system abandoned ...."
that one or more of the following circumstances are applicable to the section in question:
(a) The section does not provide primary access to occupied properties;
(b) Traffic on the section has for a period of at least ten (10) consecutive years been intermittent and of such low volume that no substantial public purpose is being served thereby;
(c) The board of supervisors has, for a period of at least the previous five (5) consecutive years, not maintained such section as part of the county road system; or
(d) For any reason, the public interest or convenience does not require the section to remain open to the public or that it is in the public interest or convenience to close, vacate and abandon the section.
3. Public Use
¶9. Seyfarth's primary argument on appeal is that substantial evidence of public use does not exist. Yet, the decision by the Board that Seyfarth appeals is the decision not to abandon the road. He did not appeal the Board's initial decision to make the road public. The Board does not have to establish public use in a determination of whether to abandon a road; it must establish public use only when initially designating a road as public. Mount Airy Plantation Road was listed as public in the county road registry as evinced by the Board's minutes in June 2000. Testimony indicated that it had been maintained by the public since the 1980s. And indeed, the Legislature noted that the intent of the registry was to memorialize already-existing public roads, not to create new ones.
¶10. A person aggrieved by a decision of the board of supervisors of a county may appeal to the circuit court within ten days from the date of the decision.
4. Abandonment
¶11. To the extent Seyfarth argues that the Board failed to provide substantial evidence regarding its declining to abandon the road pursuant to Section 65-7-121, his argument is misplaced. Section 65-7-121 leaves the decision
not
to abandon a road entirely within the discretion of the board of supervisors.
¶12. The only other way to find abandonment of a road is through a finding of disuse, which is informed by the law of adverse possession.
McNeely v. Jacks
,
5. Just Compensation
¶13. When a landowner claims compensation for land taken for a public road, the landowner must petition the board of supervisors "at the next meeting after the laying out of the road or at the meeting when the report thereof shall be returned ...."
6. Abatement of Nuisances
¶14. The Mississippi Constitution gives county boards of supervisors full jurisdiction over roads, subject only to the regulations prescribed by the Legislature. Miss. Const. art. 6, § 170. The Legislature has required boards of supervisors to keep public roads open, subject only to limited exceptions, and it further prohibits obstruction of public roads.
CONCLUSION
¶15. Because the decision not to abandon the portion of Mount Airy Plantation Road at issue did not abuse the Board's discretion, this Court affirms the Board's decision and the circuit court's order affirming the Board's decision. No authority exists for the Board to abate any nuisances in the manners suggested by Seyfarth, nor does the circuit court suggest any legal manner in which the Board may abate any nuisances; thus, the circuit court's order requiring that the Board reasonably abate any nuisances is reversed and rendered.
¶16. AFFIRMED IN PART; REVERSED AND RENDERED IN PART.
RANDOLPH, C.J., KITCHENS, P.J., COLEMAN, MAXWELL, BEAM, CHAMBERLIN, ISHEE AND GRIFFIS, JJ., CONCUR.
Only one of those landowners needs the portion of Mount Airy Plantation Road that is contained within Seyfarth's property to access his property, and an easement for access exists.
Seyfarth's concerns and the circuit court's sympathy for them are certainly understandable; however, on the record that is before this Court, Seyfarth does not have an available remedy.
If the use of a road is "unreasonable, unusual, and dangerous to safe travel," the board is within its power to stop the usage within legal means available to it.
See
Collins
,
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.