183 Iowa 645 | Iowa | 1918
A copy of the plat, put in evidence, indicates what purport to be improvements of some kind on perhaps 20 or 30 different lots. Extending north and south through the plat, or a portion thereof, are marked three streets, named Main, Mill, and Oak, reading the names in their order from east to west. The east and west streets intersecting the' first three above mentioned are Jefferson, Been, West, and Water, reading the names in their order from south to north. The plaintiff is, and for some time has been, the owner of five lots lying immediately south of West Street and west of Mill Street. He also owns two and one-half lots immediately
So far as counsel attempt to discuss the necessity or advisability of vacating the street, or. whether the same is sought or demanded as a matter of public interest, the argument is beside the one controlling question in the case. If the board of supervisors had any power or discretion to order the vacation, its action cannot be reviewed upon certiorari; and if it had no such power or discretion, then its order to that effect is void. We therefore come directly to the real inquiry: Is power or authority vested in the board to vacate the street, or any other part 6f the' plat ?
If such exists, it must have been conferred by statute. This, the appellee concedes, but says that such authority is found in Code Sections 1482 and 1507, found in the general chapter on the subject of roads. They read as follows:
*648 “Section 1482. Tlxe board of supervisors has the general supervision of the roads in the county, with power to establish, vacate and' change them as herein provided.”
“Section 1507. All public streets of villages are a part of the road; and all road supervisors or persons having charge of the same, in the respective districts or villages, shall work the same as provided by law.”
For the purpose of having before us all the statutes which may be thought to bear upon the constructions to be placed upon the cited sections, we cite also Code Section 917,- which provides that the due execution and record of a town plat “shall be equivalent to a deed in fee simple of such portion of the premises platted as is set apart for streets or other public use.”
“From these different sections, it is manifest that the word ‘street’ is used to designate the spaces left between the lots for public travel. The title thereto does not vest in the city or town prior to its acceptance, and until then it is not deemed a road or public thoroughfare.” Chrisman v. Omaha & C. B. R. & B. Co., 125 Iowa 133, 137.
“The filing of the plat is made equivalent to a deed in fee simple to the streets and alleys, but, like other deeds, requires acceptance before it can be effective.” Burroughs v. City of Cherokee, 134 Iowa 429, 432.
Such a dedication “may be withdrawn by the donor at
The streets and alleys, “upon the acceptance of the dedication tendered by filing the plat, are under the authority of the cities and towns, whose councils may ‘widen, straighten, narrow, vacate, extend, improve, and repair them.’ ” Talbert v. Mason, 136 Iowa 373, 380.
An acceptance of the grant by the public is quite as essential to the establishment of the highway as is the dedication by the owner of the soil. Manderschid v. City of Dubuque, 29 Iowa 73.
To render the situation somewhat clearer; it should be said that, running north and south through the plat of Shueyville, along the course of what is marked as Main Street on the plat, there is a public county or state road,
Not only is there no showing of any acceptance of the dedication in this instance, but we think that such an acceptance is clearly negatived. Mill Street, therefore, never became a public road, and the board of supervisors was without authority or jurisdiction to vacate the plat or the street which formed a part of it. The order of vacation being void for want of jurisdiction in the board, the writ of