2020 New Mexico Statutes
Chapter 47 - Property Law
Article 6 - County Subdivisions
Section 47-6-5 - Dedication for public use; maintenance.

The final plat shall contain a certificate stating that the board of county commissioners accepted, accepted subject to improvement or rejected, on behalf of the public, any land offered for dedication for public use in conformity with the terms of the offer of dedication. Upon full conformance with the county road construction standards, the roads may be accepted for maintenance by the county. Acceptance of offers of dedication on a final plat shall not be effective until the final plat is filed in the office of the county clerk or a resolution of acceptance by the board of county commissioners is filed in such office.

History: 1953 Comp., § 70-5-5, enacted by Laws 1973, ch. 348, § 5; 1981, ch. 148, § 2; 1995, ch. 212, § 5.

Cross references. — For record of survey requirements, see 61-23-28.2 NMSA 1978.

The 1995 amendment, effective July 1, 1996, rewrote the section to such an extent that a detailed comparison would be impracticable.

The 1981 amendment added "maintenance" at the end of the section heading and added the last two sentences in the section.

Formal county acceptance is required under the Subdivision Act to obligate the county for road maintenance and such acceptance cannot be satisfied through the common law doctrines of prescriptive acquisition or implied dedication. McGarry v. Scott, 2003-NMSC-016, 134 N.M. 32, 72 P.3d 608.

Public use of a road, school bus routes, and postal service do not establish an acceptance by a county of road maintenance obligations; such acts do not unequivocally show intent to assume jurisdiction, particularly in the face of filed disclosure forms that clearly show county rejection of maintenance obligations. McGarry v. Scott, 2003-NMSC-016, 134 N.M. 32, 72 P.3d 608.

The specific requirement under Section 47-5-4 NMSA 1978 of disclosure to a buyer regarding whether the county has accepted subdivision roads for maintenance confirms that the legislature intended county acceptance of roads for maintenance to be a prerequisite to a county obligation to maintain the subdivision roads. McGarry v. Scott, 2003-NMSC-016, 134 N.M. 32, 72 P.3d 608.

Specificity of road and road maintenance provisions. — The Subdivision Act deals with the subject of subdivision roads and county road maintenance in a much more detailed way than Sections 67-2-1 and 67-2-2 NMSA 1978; therefore, the Subdivision Act controls over the more general statutes. McGarry v. Scott, 2003-NMSC-016, 134 N.M. 32, 72 P.3d 608.

Law reviews. — For annual survey of New Mexico law relating to property, see 12 N.M.L. Rev. 459 (1982).

Am. Jur. 2d, A.L.R. and C.J.S. references. — 23 Am. Jur. 2d Dedication §§ 30, 43, 44, 47, 48, 60, 61.

Sales of lots with reference to plats as conferring, in absence of effective dedication to public, rights upon others than lots owners in respect to streets shown by plat, 172 A.L.R. 167.

Validity and construction of regulations as to subdivision maps and plats, 11 A.L.R.2d 524.

26 C.J.S. Dedication §§ 26, 40.