Title
Private roads - next steps.
Body
Over the last two years the Council has discussed whether and how to address the issues presented by continuing development on private roads. These issues center mainly around the ability to provide basic safety services on roads that are not built to the existing standards for either public or private roads.
Not counting orders referring ordinance language to the planning board, executive sessions, or other actions, the Council has discussed private road issues at least ten times in the last year and a half:
* CD 15-325 October 27, 2015
* CD 15-394 January 5, 2016
* CD 16-082 February 16, 2016
* CD 16-094 March 1, 2016
* CD 16-228 June 21, 2016
* CD 16-272 July 26, 2016
* CD 16-290 August 9, 2016
* CD 16-306 September 20, 2016
* CD 17-035 January 31, 2017
* CD 17-104 March 21, 2017
Multiple options have been discussed and weighed, some rejected as impractical or infeasible, and at least one put through the ordinance amendment process but awaiting Council action (private roads providing access to proposed subdivisions).
A memo from the town manager and planning director dated January 27, 2017 suggests breaking the larger private road issue into a few broad categories:
* Those related to development occurring through the formal subdivision approval process.
* Those related to development occurring outside the formal subdivision approval process:
o Lot-by-lot over long periods of time (say, ten or more years), which is generally not considered to be a problem, and
o Larger parcels systematically divided, developed, and sold by developers utilizing the exemptions allowed by state subdivision law, which has been identified as a major source of the problem due to the intensity of development activity, traffic, lack of proper engineering and amenities normally found in approved subdivisions.
* How to keep the problem from getting worse.
* How to improve the situation over the long term.
There is a proposed land use ordinanc...
Click here for full text