Rhode Island § 24-3-27 - Improvement and Grading by Towns

§ 24-3-27. Settlement or appraisal of damages from change of grade.

Whenever any abutting owner shall deem himself or herself to be injured by any change in the grade of a highway, and the owner shall make a claim for compensation for the injury to the town council within forty (40) days after the change of grade shall have been completed, the town council shall appoint three (3) suitable and indifferent persons, not interested in the lands bordering on the highway the grade of which has been changed, who shall be engaged to the faithful discharge of their duties, and who shall go upon the highway when the grade thereof has been changed, and examine the highway, and the estate alleged to have been injured by changing the grade of the highway, and endeavor to agree with the owner of the estate as to the amount of damage sustained by the owner by means of the change of grade, and if they agree with the owner, they shall reduce the agreement to writing and report the agreement to the town council, which report shall be binding upon the owner and upon the town; but if they fail to agree with the owner as to the damage, they shall report the failure to the town council, whereupon the council, after notice to the owner and offering him or her an opportunity to be heard, shall proceed to appraise the damage done to the owner by means of the change of grade.