7.1. SR 06-18-2007 - Laserfiche WebLink

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drives that lead from the private roads to the individual driveways. Mr. Hals estimates that those would double the private road mileage in townhome developments from 3.7 to over seven miles. Mr. Hals' memo provides estimates for other costs including $15,000 per mile for seal coating and $200,000 per mile for an overlay. Second, because these roads were not constructed as city streets, they often do not have sidewalks, access points do not meet city guidelines, and they are built to different standards than city streets. They are not as wide, do not have the same design and construction standards, and were not inspected by city staff during construction to ensure quality construction. Therefore, some of the private roads may have substandard construction which would require more maintenance and possibly reconstruction earlier than normal. Some of the townhome developments are now at a point where the roads are nearing the end of their useful lives and will require more than just on going maintenance. One of the biggest variances from city standards is the width of these private roads; they are not as wide as city streets. At the time of development, the developers requested that the roads be private so that they could be narrower and not be required to meet access point standards. This allowed the developers to increase the density of the development. The City agreed with these requests on the condition that the associations include maintenance of the streets in the association documents and that they collect adequate funds through the association fees to maintain the roads. This put all property owners on notice that they were living on private roads that were the association's responsibility to maintain. Further, parking will be an issue because of the nature of parking needs in townhome developments and the streets not being built to standards that allow for parking. If these private roads become city streets, they will be subject to city parking regulations including snow plowing parking restrictions. Areas that currently allow parking may need to be signed for no parking because of emergency vehicle access or other safety concerns. Ims may be a problem in areas where there is limited off-street parking. Third, in order for the City to take over the private roads, ownership of the property under the street plus additional right-of-way on either side of the street would need to be conveyed to the city. The typical right-of-way for a minor street is 60 feet. Most of the townhome streets are around 22 to 26 feet wide with no right-of-way outside of the street; this 38 to 34 feet less than what the City typically requires for public streets in a residential area. If property owners are not willing to give additional right-of-way, the City would not be able to accept the streets. This additional right-of-way requirement would create lots that do not conform with our zoning requirements which is another issue that would need to be addressed. In conclusion, when property owners purchased property on these private roads in townhome developments, they would have been made aware through the association documents that they were buying property on a private road and that they would be required to bear the cost for maintaining and iroproving the roads. The commercial properties on private roads are siruilar to townhomes in that there is an association type of arrangement where fees are collected and maintenance of the common property is done through the association or management company. The request that the City now take over those private roads is more complex than it seems. The cost to take over the approximately seven miles (excluding drives in townhome developments) of private roads is substantial with no additional revenue source to fund the added expense, the standards to which they were built are far below City requirements, land for the streets and associated right-of-way must be freely conveyed to the City, and parking, zoning, and other related issues would need to be addressed. For those reasons listed above, staff recommends that the City not take over existing private roads. If the Council does want to take over these roads, an S:\Counci1\Lori\2007\Private Roads decision requested 06 18 07.doc