For months the Marlborough Town Board has been making adjustments to a new local law pertaining to provisions affecting streets and sidewalks.

Supervisor Chris Cerone said he believes the changes the Town Board has made will be beneficial to the residents of the town.

“I think we needed to do it because the other one was too restrictive,” he said of the old law. “It tied up people’s property rights and restricted them to just four houses on a private road, which I didn’t feel comfortable with.”

The code previously allowed up to four homes on a private road and two additional if they fronted onto a town road, for a maximum of six.

One of the new provisions limits the length of a private road ending in a cul du sac, or dead end, to no more than 2,000 feet.

“It [law] also includes inspection fees for the fire department and the highway guys to make sure the road is always open, which currently doesn’t exist,” Cerone said.
Cerone said he is puzzled why this particular law is “so contested.”

“I think it’s a good thing,” he said of the law. “I think it’s nice we give the opportunity to someone who has enough property to put six houses on it and chooses a private road. The benefit of private roads is that it doesn’t cost the taxpayers any more money.”

Cerone did acknowledge there may be problems on private roads but it is a “buyer beware” scenario.

“If you choose to buy a home on a private road, you have to be aware of the circumstances,” he said. “We’re also going to have better road maintenance agreements than existed in the past.”

Cerone did not elaborate on the contents of a possible agreement, but indicated they would be the responsibility of and between the landowners and “would have nothing to do with the town.”

Cerone said he sees private roads as a way to lessen the burden on the taxpayer.

“I don’t want to create any more town roads that our Highway Department has to take care of because that leads to more men, more health care costs, more equipment right down the line. The taxpayers can’t afford it,” he said. “I would just as soon go with private roads and have those people be responsible for them.”

Cerone said that the old 14 percent road grade maximum will remain in the new law, but it will be site specific, with the Planning Board having the ability to lower the degree, in light of what they deem is best for the health and safety of the public.

“Overall it’s going to be good for the town and good for the taxpayers,” Cerone said of the new law. He added that some of the criticism leveled by Cindy Lanzetta on drainage is misleading. He said the new law states that stormwater management “shall be part of the engineering plan for construction of a private road” and that retention ponds, along with their associated costs, will be included in the required maintenance agreements and be borne by the residents of the private roads.

The public hearing on this law was closed at the last board meeting and the town is awaiting comments from the Ulster County Planning Board. Cerone said he will be seeking input on this law from the town’s fire chiefs, the police chief and from both the Planning Board and code enforcement officer.

Councilman Dr. Anthony Pascale said currently there are 122 private roads on file in the town clerk’s office, many dating back to the 19th century with widths of only 18 feet. If developers wish to extend one of these pre-existing roads to build more homes, they first have to go to the Planning Board and if accepted, must do the proper upgrades to the extent possible.

Pascale said he will recuse himself from voting on this law because he owns property on a private road and that his two sons also live on private roads.

Pascale, by way of mathematical illumination, pointed out that a $1.9 million annual highway budget, divided by the town’s 57 miles of roads, breaks down to $33,000 per mile. If the 122 private roads equal six miles [Pascale’s rough estimate] and is multiplied by $33,000, the final tally of $198,000 represents an annual savings to the taxpayer, since the town does not pay to maintain those six miles. He added that those who live on private roads do pay highway taxes, which in reality, pushes the tally even higher.

At the public hearing, Cindy Lanzetta raised several objections to this new law, questioning how the road specifications were determined.

“This new law and its specifications arrived out of the blue with no technical backup information to refer to,” she commented. “This leaves the town open to legal suits that would question how the specifications were arrived at.”

Lanzetta said traditionally private road agreements “have proven to be a legal nightmare.” She highlighted one sentence [sec. 5 (a)], which states that private road maintenance agreements “shall further provide for an annual safety access inspection for fire and emergency services.”

“Who is going to do the inspection?” she asked. “If it doesn’t get done and emergency equipment can’t get to a house, who is going to be responsible?”

Lanzetta also noted that residents, who now live on existing private roads with only a few homes, may be in for a rude awakening if their road is expanded and a significant number of new homes are added, bringing with it more traffic and noise.

“Suddenly your private home is on a road with hundreds of cars going by,” she said.
Lanzetta pointed out that the town is the ultimate enforcer of stormwater regulations and if drainage is not properly maintained in and around the private road areas “it will ultimately fall on the taxpayer to do the necessary work.”

Al Lanzetta said “it’s just a bad law.”

“We’ve known friends who have gone through hell with private roads. All you need is one person who says ‘no I’m not going to do this, take me to court’ and it just falls apart,” he said of the road agreements. “Now imagine if you have 10 people on a private road.”

Lanzetta said most towns are moving away from private roads “because they are a hassle.” He added that given human nature, there is a high probability that the maintenance of retention ponds on these private roads will end up the responsibility of the municipality.

“It’s a done deal when it’s a public road. We take care of it. We plow it and we do everything and charge a tax to all the people on that road,” he said.

Lanzetta said that he and his wife are “not against development — but just do it right.”

By MARK REYNOLDS
mreynolds@tcnewspapers.com