The Vermont Statutes Online
The Statutes below include the actions of the 2025 session of the General Assembly.
NOTE: The Vermont Statutes Online is an unofficial copy of the Vermont Statutes Annotated that is provided as a convenience.
(Cite as: 5 V.S.A. § 3457)
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§ 3457. Commencement of proceedings; expedited proceedings
(a) Proceedings under section 3456 of this title may be commenced by motion of the Board by petition of the Agency, the Attorney General,
the State’s Attorney of the county, the legislative body of a municipality, 10 or
more freeholders of the State, any railroad doing business in the State, or in such
way as the law may otherwise specifically provide.
(b) Proceedings involving damaged structures or other impediments alongside or adjacent
to the rights-of-way of railroads that imminently imperil the safety of the passage
of trains shall be commenced immediately upon notice of the peril to the Board or
the Agency. Upon notice, the Board or the Agency shall immediately investigate and,
if it is determined that such danger does exist and cannot be timely removed through
informal negotiation, order the owner of the structure or other impediment to immediately
take all action necessary to abate the danger. If the owner fails to do so, or is
unavailable, the Board or the Agency may, without incurring any civil liability, take
all steps necessary to abate the danger, including removal of the damaged structure
or other impediment, and all incurred expenses shall constitute a debt due the State
upon the rendering of an account for all incurred expenses to the owner and shall
be recoverable from the owner in an action. Expenses incurred by the Board or the
Agency may be drawn from the Transportation Fund, and any amounts recovered shall
be credited to the Transportation Fund. (Amended 1959, No. 329 (Adj. Sess.), § 39(b), eff. March 1, 1961; 1981, No. 166 (Adj. Sess.), § 1; 1993, No. 172 (Adj. Sess.), § 44; 2021, No. 105 (Adj. Sess.), § 25, eff. July 1, 2022.)