June 05, 2011

Private Street Conversion

Evidently the new rule is that if anyone on the street files a petition, the road will be approved for conversion no matter how people vote.   If the new policy in the City of Worcester is to make all private streets public because of their poor condition, which I do not disagree with....   Let me make some suggestions:

  1. Forget about the petitions.  Why bother?  The votes do not matter
  2. DPW review conditions of the private streets and pick out the worse ones.    Let the people on these streets that they have 2, or 3 years, to fix the streets or they will be converted.
  3. If the roads are fixed up, take them off the list and let them stay private
  4. If they are not fixed up, then convert them

 Bottom line the DPW knows what private streets are the worst ones, let them prioritize them, while at the same time giving the abutters and opportunity to rectify the situation themselves. 

4 comments:

Signman said...

And Worcester common ground gets sidecwalks done for free?

Steve Foley said...

Bill, do you have any idea why these roads were not converted years ago?

Are there benefits to the residents that live on private roads (like lower taxes?)

What I'm trying to figure out is was something overlooked fifty years ago by the developer of Stark Road that kept the street private, where a similar road today would automatically be converted?

It seems to me that if the residents get no benefit by living on a private way, the city would be punishing them by making them pay for 50 years of maintenance, where other roads had the city maintaining those roads for 50 year.

Anonymous said...

Answer: It's a trade off.

Residents of non-paved streets have lower assessments. They save over the long run.

Ask yourself, would you pay market for a house without a paved street?

Punish? 50 years is an extreme example. People don't stay in houses that long. Tray 10-20 years.

Maintenance is a non-issue for those residents.

I live on one.

Jahn said...

Here's my recollection. Builders on private streets are not req'd to pave the road. i think basiclly b/c the road is pre existing....even if it is all over grown with a forest, however builders of a new subdivions are req'd to meet current road building/utility standards.

Again my recollection.

Tracey, did u make any inroads at God's Acre this past weeekend :)