Needham, MA real estate attorney, Howard Goldman was quoted in the Needham Observer discussing the rules of public roads and private ways in town. Attorney Goldman is a member of Needham’s Zoning Board of Appeals and has been practicing real estate law in Massachusetts for over 40 years. Read the entire article below.

250 private ways make Needham’s roads a public-private partnership

by Bob Baker – Needham Observer
October 16, 2024

A significant portion of Needham residents live on or adjacent to private ways, roads that do not belong to the town. A Select Board policy statement released in 2014 listed 250 private ways in Needham, including 78 that were unnamed. Residents and passers-by are often unsure about the rules of the road when it comes to non-public roads, and with good reason: the rules vary by situation. “It’s all very private,” private road resident Tom Anderson quipped.

As Needham grew and public paving began, the town developed a standard for adopting roads as town property. When the Planning Board was created in 1922, roads shown on an official street map of the time were recognized as public ways. Since then, it has required new roads to meet town standards for adoption into the public road network, which means they are maintained and improved by the town rather than by the abutters. Some private ways are only for pedestrians; others are car-friendly. The latter must still meet basic requirements to allow emergency vehicles to reach homes. The town will plow many private ways, but only if they are maintained to a standard that does not risk or impede the snowplows.

Department of Public Works Director Carys Lustig said private ways are still being created by developers who choose to create a thoroughfare that doesn’t meet town standards. “Fundamentally, private roads have to do with whether the town accepts the road,” Lustig said. “To be accepted as a public road requires meeting the town’s standards for width, drainage and sidewalks.

“Ironically, I grew up on a private road in Needham. I had a lovely area to safely bike and play with friends,” Lustig said.

But living on private roads also comes with challenges. According to Lustig, many residents on private ways find out the meaning of living on a private road when they approach the town for paving services and learn that they are ineligible.

Lustig said many private ways meet the standards to receive town snow plowing, but roads must be maintained in good condition. “We send notices to homeowners of roads that are deteriorating. If it is not brought up to a certain condition, we will not provide plowing services,” she said.

“We hear that sometimes they have difficulties when one neighbor doesn’t want to pay for an improvement and will make it difficult for the other neighbors by parking on the road when they’re trying to pave it,” Lustig said.

Janice Anderson thought the deterioration of Appleton Road, a private way on Bird’s Hill, was becoming unacceptable. “I was worried about trick-or-treaters falling into potholes, she said. Her husband Tom and a neighbor had tried to patch the road every year. “Neither of them is what I would call Mr. Handy. It was a day-long, crazy project and it wasn’t working anymore.”

Anderson got three estimates from private pavers and then went to the assessors office to get a map showing the exact frontage of each property. The bill was divided according to each homeowner’s frontage and the road was paved.

“Everyone was appreciative. Everyone put in their money — except for one house,” she said.

For residents of private ways who want their roads to become public ways, there is a long and complex process that involves paying to bring the road up to the town’s standards. Approvals must also come from the Select Board and Town Meeting.

“When I bought my home, it was paved and I didn’t know it was a private road,” said Charly Nanda, who lives on Fuller Road, a private way near Hersey Station.

With the street slowly deteriorating, she has begun the application process to become a public road. She said in order to learn what the residents of her road will have to pay to bring the road up to grade, she had to begin the application process. She is unsure whether the costs will outweigh the long-term benefits. According to John Bulian, a former member of the Select Board and currently a member of the Board of Assessors, applicants often learn that they have to take down garden walls or trees.

Lustig said Sachem Road, off Highland Avenue, and Parkvale Road, off South Street, are also exploring the transition from private to public.

“All private ways are unique,” Lustig said. Many of them have public and private sections. Some have public lighting and some install their own lights. Some have public water and sewer and some have mail delivery. Many people have properties that abut both public and private ways. On Belle Lane, a private way that abuts the Charles River near the Ridge Hill Reservation, where most of the homes are valued in the $4 million to $5 million range, paying into a homeowner’s association is mandatory. The homeowner’s association takes care of plowing and paving.

Bulian said residents of private ways do not receive any abatement in property values based on reduced public services.

Howard Goldman, a Needham-based real estate attorney and a member of the Zoning Board of Appeals, explained that, in most cases, the public still has a right to use private ways. “They certainly can’t park there but generally have access to it,” he said.

Goldman said activities such as driving through, walking and dog walking are permitted on most private ways. “If the town is paying to plow, that increases the ability of the public to access it,” said Goldman.

Some private ways post signs that try to limit public access, but they are not enforced by the town. Goldman said violators would have to be sued or towed by the homeowners themselves.

Janice Anderson’s neighbors treated her to dinner at the Common Room after her successful completion of the Appleton Road paving project. “It was a satisfying accomplishment,” that involved persistence, tact and knowing your neighbors, she said.