In October 2024, East Windsor town officials considered suing the Town of South Windsor over the maintenance of Schanck Road, per an FOIC complaint filed by East Windsor Selectman Keith Yagaloff.
Yagaloff filed the complaint out of belief that East Windsor’s Board of Selectmen acted in violation of the state’s FOI laws when they entered executive session on an Oct. 17, 2024, meeting to discuss “potential litigation,” believing it to be a “pretext.” The complaint was dismissed on September 30, upon discovery that the Town did discuss the possibility of bringing suit against East Windsor, with the proposed suit being over maintenance of Schanck Road.
Schanck Road, a private road located within the boundaries of East Windsor, was sold to the Town of South Windsor in June 2022, and, since then, both towns have dodged responsibility for its maintenance. South Windsor officials have argued that since it is a private road, it is the responsibility of the residents to maintain it, while East Windsor believes that since it is owned by South Windsor, they should maintain it.
To this day, no party has accepted responsibility for the road’s maintenance, and upon examination of state law, it’s likely that neither party has to.
Per the FOIC ruling, on Oct. 7, 2024, South Windsor passed a resolution authorizing Town Manager Michael Maniscalco to transfer Schanck Rd back to East Windsor. The resolution included language saying “the Town of East Windsor has authority to accept land within its town limits for purposes of a public road and has a duty to maintain such public roads,” and, “the Town of South Windsor has no authority to accept nor duty maintain public roads outside its Town limits.”
On Oct. 11, Maniscalco sent the resolution to East Windsor First Selectman Jason Bowsza, stating it was a “formal petition to the Town of East Windsor to accept Schanck Rd as a public road.” Essentially, Maniscalco wanted East Windsor to accept ownership of the road and make it a public road, which would make its maintenance East Windsor’s responsibility. At that time, Bowsza then asked the town attorney to discuss “next steps.”
“The respondents testified, and it is found, that such ‘next steps’ included, but were not limited to, filing a civil action against the Town of South Windsor, seeking relief in the form of a declaratory judgment defining the respective maintenance obligations for Schanck Road,” reads the FOIC ruling. “It is found that the Town Attorney was invited by the respondents to attend the relevant portion of the October 17 executive session for the purpose of explaining different courses of action the respondents could take with respect to Schanck Rd.”
On Nov. 14, Bowsza sent a letter to Maniscalco, telling him that East Windsor would not accept the transfer of Schanck Road in its current condition, and that, as a private road, it must be maintained by the owner of the road, the Town of South Windsor. Upon inspection of the state’s laws regarding private roads, however, that’s not entirely true.
“The owner of any residential real property [houses] that benefits from an easement or right-of-way, the purpose of which is to provide access to such residential real property, shall be responsible for the cost of maintaining such easement or right-of-way in good repair and the cost of repairing or restoring any damaged portion of such easement or right-of-way,” reads Section 47-42f of the state’s General Statutes. “Such maintenance shall include, but not be limited to, the removal of snow from such easement or right-of-way.”
Essentially, the responsibility for maintenance falls on the beneficiaries of the private road, or those who use it to get to and from their houses, not necessarily the owners of it. Per the ruling, Schanck Road does provide “access to an open space located within the Town of South Windsor, but is the sole means of access for several residents of the Town of East Windsor to their homes.”
According to the Office of Legislative Research, residents of Schanck Road can ensure the road’s maintenance is paid for by the town by petitioning the town’s Board of Selectmen to accept the road as a public highway. Per the ruling, Bowsza hasn’t heard anything from Maniscalco since Nov. 14, 2024, on the issue, and the Town of South Windsor has not “taken any further action with respect to transferring Schanck Road.”
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