5.4. SR 05-14-2007
Item # 5.4.
MEMORANDUM
TO: Mayor and City Council
FROM: Lori Johnson, City Administrator
DATE: May 10, 2007
SUBJECT: Private Roads in Townhome Developments
The topic of maintenance and replacement of private roads has come up in the past and the
Council has decided that it was not in the city's best interest to take over these roads. This
issue has been raised again and the Council asked that it be discussed at a worksession. As
requested, very preliminary information regarding private roads will be presented to the
Council verbally on Monday. The Council can then decide if it wants to explore this topic
further.
Of the private roads that currently exist in the city, approximately half of them are in town
home developments. The remaining half are almost exclusively gravel roads with the
exception of a couple of commercial areas. In the case of the town home developments,
the developers requested that the roads be private in order to increase density. Some of the
other private roads were former township roads that were taken over when the city
consolidated with the township. In many cases, these private roads function as driveways.
City Engineer Terry Maurer, Community Development Director Scott Clark, Stteet
Superintendent Phil Hals, and I have met several times to discuss the issues surrounding
private roads. Some of the issues are simple, but some of these are more complex than they
appear on the surface and additional research will be needed. One of the first things that
comes to mind when talking about taking over private roads is the substantial additional cost
involved in maintenance and long-term replacement. However, there are many other issues
including the standard to which the private stteets were consttucted, ownership of the road
and dedication of rights of way, patking, access points, amending town home association
documents, and the need fot specialized equipment to access the narrow roads, to name a
few.
Staff would like direction from the Council how you want to approach this issue. If the
Council wants to continue exploring this issue, staff will dedicate time and resources to fully
research all of the issues and eosts associated with taking over ownership of private roads
and bring it back to the Council for consideration at a later date. One step we would like to
proceed with naw is ta sign all af the private roads with a "Private Raad" sign ta clearly
identify them. The estimated cast far this is between $5,000 and $7,500.
S:\Council\Lori\2007\Pnvatc Roads 05 14 07.doc