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GIRARD — The new Crawford County road standards for subdivisions is all about protection, according to county commissioners. Protection not only for the county, but also for potential homeowners.
On Friday, commissioners approved the new road standards, which will help further define who takes care of which streets, and how those streets will be built.
“Developers have subdivisions, and they go out and plat it,” said commissioner Carl Wood. “They will put a road in there, then build a $150,000 to $200,000 house. Then, people who live in those houses on a dirt road want blacktop or asphalt, and they come to us for us to take over the roads and build them.”
The new standards require that developers build roads according to county standards, or else the road will be considered a “private road,” and developers must put up signage. Furthermore, “private roads” will show up when people look into purchasing houses.
Commissioner Linda Grilz said she believed that postal service vehicles and school buses are not allowed to drive on private roads.
Under the new standards, homeowners on a private road can join together in a formal benefit district to bring their road up to county standards, which would then cause the private road designation to be removed.
This is not the first set of standards, but Grilz said that the new standards have more “bite” to them.
“The others were real old and outdated, and didn’t address developments much. A developer comes in and sells the lots,” Grilz said. “They might put a road in, but they often throw asphalt over the road when it doesn’t have a good base. When a homeowner sees it, they see a nice asphalt road. It’s a big hit because they want to build in the county. But it’s just a cosmetic road. It wears down, then they want us to fix it, because the developer is long gone.”
Commissioners also discussed moving forward on purchasing new heavy equipment. The issue arose because one backhoe in one of the road and bridge districts is reaching the end of its lifespan.
“We have a backhoe that is 25 or more years old,” Grilz said. “It’s in bad repair, and we don’t want to put good money into old equipment. Bob [Kmiec]’s district is next in line after that, too.”
Wood suggested that for the price of one new backhoe, the county could spend roughly the same amount on two mini excavators and one skid loader. The commissioners directed staff to lease a skid loader to see if that piece would fit the county’s needs, and the commission will make a decision at some point in the future.
Andrew Nash can be reached at andrew.nash@morningsun.net or by calling 231-2600 ext. 140.
GIRARD — The new Crawford County road standards for subdivisions is all about protection, according to county commissioners. Protection not only for the county, but also for potential homeowners.
On Friday, commissioners approved the new road standards, which will help further define who takes care of which streets, and how those streets will be built.
“Developers have subdivisions, and they go out and plat it,” said commissioner Carl Wood. “They will put a road in there, then build a $150,000 to $200,000 house. Then, people who live in those houses on a dirt road want blacktop or asphalt, and they come to us for us to take over the roads and build them.”
The new standards require that developers build roads according to county standards, or else the road will be considered a “private road,” and developers must put up signage. Furthermore, “private roads” will show up when people look into purchasing houses.
Commissioner Linda Grilz said she believed that postal service vehicles and school buses are not allowed to drive on private roads.
Under the new standards, homeowners on a private road can join together in a formal benefit district to bring their road up to county standards, which would then cause the private road designation to be removed.
This is not the first set of standards, but Grilz said that the new standards have more “bite” to them.
“The others were real old and outdated, and didn’t address developments much. A developer comes in and sells the lots,” Grilz said. “They might put a road in, but they often throw asphalt over the road when it doesn’t have a good base. When a homeowner sees it, they see a nice asphalt road. It’s a big hit because they want to build in the county. But it’s just a cosmetic road. It wears down, then they want us to fix it, because the developer is long gone.”
Commissioners also discussed moving forward on purchasing new heavy equipment. The issue arose because one backhoe in one of the road and bridge districts is reaching the end of its lifespan.
“We have a backhoe that is 25 or more years old,” Grilz said. “It’s in bad repair, and we don’t want to put good money into old equipment. Bob [Kmiec]’s district is next in line after that, too.”
Wood suggested that for the price of one new backhoe, the county could spend roughly the same amount on two mini excavators and one skid loader. The commissioners directed staff to lease a skid loader to see if that piece would fit the county’s needs, and the commission will make a decision at some point in the future.
Andrew Nash can be reached at andrew.nash@morningsun.net or by calling 231-2600 ext. 140.
