Request By:
Honorable W. W. Burchett
Attorney at Law
Box 588
Prestonsburg, Kentucky 41653
Opinion
Opinion By: Robert F. Stephens, Attorney General; Robert L. Chenoweth, Assistant Attorney General
As the attorney for the Floyd County Board of Education you have asked the Office of the Attorney General to consider whether the Board may grant a permanent easement over school grounds to a property owner for purposes of ingress and egress to his property by pedestrian and vehicles. It is our opinion the school board does have the power and authority to grant such an easement.
By the provisions of KRS 162.010, "title to all property owned by a school district is vested in the commonwealth for the benefit of the district board of education." Each board of education has control and management of all public school property of its district. KRS 160.290. Thus, in our opinion, while a board of education could grant such an easement as under consideration herein, a significant burden should be shouldered by the individual desiring the easement to show the necessity for it. Consideration should be made as to whether there already exists reasonable access to the property in question and the granting of the easement would only permit a convenience not presently existing. Also to be considered is what the Division of Building and Grounds, Department of Education, cautioned about, which was whether the granting of the easement would bring the school property outside the regulations governing the acreage site requirements for schools. See 702 KAR 4:050.
Furthermore, it is our opinion that should the board of education decide to grant the permanent easement, the recipient of this incorporeal right must compensate the school board for any diminution in the value of the school property resulting from the burden affixed in the form of the permanent easement.