[Adopted 11-16-2010 by L.L. No. 16-2010]
The Planning Board, in granting subdivision and site development
plan approval along historic roads, as identified herein, shall determine
that the construction or site alteration approved will be compatible
with the legislative intent of this article.
[Adopted 11-16-2010 by L.L. No. 19-2010]
In accordance with the authority vested in the Town Board by
the State Legislature, the Town Board shall, by resolution, determine
those highways, which meet the criteria for § 189 Highway.
These highways shall have been used by the public for a period of
10 years or longer and the Town shall have performed certain maintenance
thereof in the form of patching or plowing during a period of at least
10 years.
On any highway determined to be a § 189 Highway, the
public shall have the right to traverse said highway as if it were
constructed and laid out as a dedicated public highway. The rights
of access shall include the right to drive an automobile or bike on
it, traverse it on foot and conduct any other lawful activity on the
highway as if it were a fully dedicated Town highway. The Town shall
have been deemed to have acquired a surface easement for said highway
and appurtenances for the width and the length of the highway as determined
by the Town Board upon the adoption of a resolution declaring said
highway to be a § 189 Highway.
Once a highway has been determined to be a § 189 Highway,
the Town shall continue to keep the existing traveled way for the
width and the length, as determined by the Town over which a surface
easement has been acquired, in a condition for the public to be able
to access and traverse said highway and for emergency service access.
Nothing herein shall obligate the Town to expend any funds to widen
the road or to acquire any subsurface easements to allow any drainage
facilities to be installed or replaced. If determined by the Town
Board to be necessary, said improvements shall be performed in accordance
with the provisions of law. Nothing herein shall require the Town
to pave or otherwise improve the existing surface of the § 189
Highway to any level beyond keeping it open in order to allow safe
passage and emergency service access.
The Town Board shall, following the affective date of this article,
adopt a resolution formally certifying all § 189 Highways
within the Town of Cortlandt. A list shall contain an inventory of
all highways previously determined to be § 189 Highways
updating their names and dimensions thereon and shall also contain
the additional 41 highways, which have been determined by the study
commissioned by the Town Board to be § 189 Highways but
which have not yet been formally declared.
In accordance with the provisions of the State Constitution
and state laws it is hereby declared to be illegal within the Town
of Cortlandt for any municipal official to provide services to a private
road, lane or driveway except in times of a state of emergency duly
declared by the appropriate executive official for the needs of the
public's health, welfare and safety. It is hereby declared to
be the intent of this article that no further roads by accepted as
§ 189 Highways within the Town of Cortlandt except as provided
for herein.
This article shall take effect immediately upon its filing with
the Secretary of State of the State of New York, except that no service
now provided will be curtailed or diminished for a period of 90 days
after its adoption.