Fencing on Rights of Way
The county and township roads in Middleville Township are typically 66 foot wide rights of way, or, stated another way, the right of way is 33 feet from the centerline of pretty much any road in the township.
It is important for property owners to respect this right of way, by not placing any permanent structure within the right of way; the most obvious example is fencing. Livestock can wreak havoc with drainage ditches, and the presence of a non-conforming fence can make mowing of the ditches impossible. If you, the property owner, place your fences 40 feet from the road center (good), as opposed to 25 feet from the road center (not good), we don't think that Ferdinand the Bull will know the difference.
Why 66 feet?
Sixty-six feet is an archaic unit of surveying length, which is also known as 'one chain':
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chain_(unit)
It all developed during the reign of King Henry VIII of England (yes, that's the guy with six wives), when he needed an efficient way to measure the lands that he had seized from the Catholic Church, in order to sell them off quickly in order to finance his wars with Scotland and France. A chain is 4 rods, or stated another way, a rod is 16.5 feet:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rod_(unit)#In_Britain
The current Minnesota statutes relating to standardized road width still refer to '4 rods', or 66 feet.
The governing Minnesota statute that particularly applies to fencing abutting rights of way is # 160.2715(3):
https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/?id=160.2715
Gopher State One Call
In addition to all of this, the rights of way typically include utility easements. Utility easements can be for many things, but the ones that are playing for keeps are natural gas easements, and electric easements. Punching a fence post auger down into a natural gas line, or high tension electric line, is never a good idea; you may get killed or maimed. That is why the prudent property owner stays out of the road right of way. Having said that, if any digging is in your construction plans, then go online, or drop a dime to ring up Gopher State One Call, to locate any possible buried utilities:
http://www.gopherstateonecall.org/
The Gopher State One Call telephone is 800.252.1166. To locate public utilities (as typically found along a public road), the service to flag/mark underground utilities is FREE. For private underground utilities (such as the electric line from the house to the barn), the GSOC website will direct you to those contractors.
And, finally, if you have any questions...ASK JOEY. His number at the town hall is 320.543.3807.
It is important for property owners to respect this right of way, by not placing any permanent structure within the right of way; the most obvious example is fencing. Livestock can wreak havoc with drainage ditches, and the presence of a non-conforming fence can make mowing of the ditches impossible. If you, the property owner, place your fences 40 feet from the road center (good), as opposed to 25 feet from the road center (not good), we don't think that Ferdinand the Bull will know the difference.
Why 66 feet?
Sixty-six feet is an archaic unit of surveying length, which is also known as 'one chain':
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chain_(unit)
It all developed during the reign of King Henry VIII of England (yes, that's the guy with six wives), when he needed an efficient way to measure the lands that he had seized from the Catholic Church, in order to sell them off quickly in order to finance his wars with Scotland and France. A chain is 4 rods, or stated another way, a rod is 16.5 feet:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rod_(unit)#In_Britain
The current Minnesota statutes relating to standardized road width still refer to '4 rods', or 66 feet.
The governing Minnesota statute that particularly applies to fencing abutting rights of way is # 160.2715(3):
https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/?id=160.2715
Gopher State One Call
In addition to all of this, the rights of way typically include utility easements. Utility easements can be for many things, but the ones that are playing for keeps are natural gas easements, and electric easements. Punching a fence post auger down into a natural gas line, or high tension electric line, is never a good idea; you may get killed or maimed. That is why the prudent property owner stays out of the road right of way. Having said that, if any digging is in your construction plans, then go online, or drop a dime to ring up Gopher State One Call, to locate any possible buried utilities:
http://www.gopherstateonecall.org/
The Gopher State One Call telephone is 800.252.1166. To locate public utilities (as typically found along a public road), the service to flag/mark underground utilities is FREE. For private underground utilities (such as the electric line from the house to the barn), the GSOC website will direct you to those contractors.
And, finally, if you have any questions...ASK JOEY. His number at the town hall is 320.543.3807.