Riverhead’s private roads: town makes its list of roads to plow, but controversy over responsibility continues

Which “private” roads in the Town of Riverhead will be plowed and maintained by the highway department was again the topic of discussion at Riverhead Town Hall yesterday, where board members and Highway Superintendent George Woodson went over a list of roads designated as private from Wading River to Laurel.

Woodson presented the town board yesterday with a list of 47 private roads for review to decide which ones will receive plowing, sanding and patching services by the highway department. Street cleaning and drain cleaning services will not be provided, Woodson said.

Woodson and board members agreed to provide services to 25 of those roads, with five others left for further review and a decision at a later date.  Officials decided against providing services to 18 of the 47 roads on the list — some of them because property owners along those roads asked to be excluded, preferring to retain “private” status for the purpose of being able to restrict access to the roads and neighborhoods — and often to the beaches at the end of those roads.

But the omission of  many roads from Woodson’s list was questioned by the president of  a Baiting Hollow homeowner’s association.

“We only want the town to continue to do what it’s been doing for decades,” said Oak Hills Association president Judith Miller. “That includes plowing and sanding, as well as cleaning drains and leaf pickup,” she said.

Most of the roads in the Oak Hills neighborhood were not on the list. Only Oak Drive, the community’s main access road, which runs north from Sound Avenue, was listed.  Miller said it was her understanding after discussions with town officials that all of the roads in Oak Hills would be on the list of roads to be plowed and maintained.

“Really, it’s a matter of public safety,” Miller said.

Woodson said only Oak Drive and Harper Road would be taken care of by the town. Harper Road was inadvertently left off the list, he noted. They are the only roads in the Oak Hills Community that are surfaced in asphalt, Woodson said.  The rest are gravel or dirt, he said. Woodson denies that all the roads in the community were always plowed. He was assigned to take care of that neighborhood when he first began working for the highway department in the late 1980s, he said, and the only roads he was instructed to plow were Oak Drive and Harper Road. The rest of the roads might have been added later on, he said.

“I want to go through some of the roads left off the list yesterday, but first I want to get this list finalized,” Woodson said.

Controversy has swirled around the topic of private road maintenance in Riverhead since Woodson last fall sent a letter to owners of properties along private roads informing them that the town would no longer plow them. The letter caused an uproar among homeowners, who complained to the supervisor and town board, prompting the supervisor suggest last October residents should “protest the highway department.”

Woodson said although the practice of plowing private roads began under his predecessors, it itself violates the state constitution, which prohibits the expenditure of town highway funds on non-town roads. His investigation into the subject was prompted by property owners’ demands to have their roads repaved and drainage work done.

“Private” roads are roads that were not “dedicated” to and are not owned by the town. They are often not built to town specifications concerning pavement width and drainage appurtenances. However, homeowners who live on private roads still pay highway district taxes.

The town decided to adopt a code modeled on one in the Westchester County Town of Cortland, which specifies which limited municipal services, such as snow-plowing, will be provided to specified private roads within the town. That approach, authorized by section 189 of the state highway law, allows the town to plow private roads without assuming liability for other — much more expensive — responsibilities like repaving or making drainage improvements.

At a Dec. 2 standing-room-only, three-hour public hearing on the proposed new code and the designation of 49 private roads as “section 189 roads” for the purpose of snow-clearing, the board heard from both residents who asked that their roads be excluded from the list and residents who asked for municipal plowing services be continued.

Yesterday, the board decided that the following private roads would continue to be plowed and sanded during snow events and have potholes patched by town highway crews:

• Bayberry Lane, Jamesport
• Beach Club Lane, Wading River
• Bell Avenue, Aquebogue
• Benjamin Street, Wading River
• Breezy Point Road, Wading River
• Caroline Court, Aquebogue
• Delores Avenue, Riverhead
• East Lane, Wading River
• Emmetts Lane, Wading River
• Harper Road, Baiting Hollow*
• Hobson Drive, Aquebogue
• Laurel Hollow Court, Wading River
• Laurel Lane, Wading River
• Meadow Drive, Baiting Hollow
• Oak Drive, Baiting Hollow
• Oak Lane, Wading River
• Red Fox Path, Wading River
• Redleaf Court, Riverhead
• Scallop Lane, Jamesport
• Seaman Road, Jamesport
• Shady Lane, Wading River
• Summit Drive, Baiting Hollow
• Telephone Street, Riverhead
• Wema Road, Wading River
• Wesley Ave, Jamesport
• White Birch Court, Jamesport
• Woodchuck Path, Wading River
• Zion Street, Aquebogue

* These roads were added by Woodson after Thursday’s town board meeting, he said in a phone interview  Friday.

Private roads for which no decision has yet been made are:

• Fern Road, Baiting Hollow
• Sunrise Avenue, Jamesport

The rest of the private roads in town will not be provided municipal plowing services, except when necessary to allow access for emergency vehicles.