The hold up of a road going public

The hold up of a road going public

Nottley River Road still has another obstacle to cross

By Frank Bradley

Sentinel writer

Suzanne Ferrarra has been working to get the Nottley River Road paved for a long, long time, and it seems like there are endless hoops for her to jump through. Part of it has to do with property owners along the way not bothering to give their consent allowing the state to take over the right-of-way and the other part seems to be simply a miscommunication between homeowners and the state Department of Transportation (DOT).

Nottley River Road is a private road and it is a badly maintained one. There are 67 property owned tracts that require access to it, and the problem has been to get all of owners to agree to give a right-of-way so the DOT can be petitioned to take over ownership and provide maintenance for the road. That has to happen first, making it a pubic road before DOT can even consider paving the road.

Initially, letters were sent out to the property owners asking for their consent to give the state right-of-way. Most owners answered readily agreeing to to make the road public. There was one gentleman who originally didn’t agree to it, but he later came around. Ah, problem solved.

But hold on, there were seven or eight of the parcel owners who never answered, and those folks had to answer in the affirmative before the local DOT can recommend to the state that the road is eligible to become a public one.  Non responses still count and they all have to agree to it. This point was made clear to Ms. Ferrarra recently by DOT representative Wesley Grindstaff.

Ferrarra says she is frustrated because she has attempted twice in the last month with a registered letter to contact the property owner, who lives in Sarasota, Florida, but she has had no response one way or the other.

She also was of the understanding that homeowners could put $2,500 in escrow and the state would be able to begin work on the road without a non-consent; however, she learned this week that that option only applies to an already public road, not to private ones. So she is going to make another attempt to get the Sarasota lady’s consent.

Even as a best case, the road would not be eligible to be paved before 2013, according to Grindstaff. However, once all of the consent forms are signed and placed with the register of deeds, a request to make Nottley a public road will be made to the state and can be expected to be approved within a month or a month and a half, again according to Grindstaff.

Once the DOT takes over, homeowners can expect the road to be maintained as a safe gravel road, which will be a vast improvement over what Nottley River residents currently have.