[Added 8-4-2015 by L.L.
No. 13-2015]
A.
Since
the founding of the Town of Riverhead in 1792, various highways have
been created and constructed. Many of the original highways began
as dirt paths over which the public traversed. In the 1800s, the New
York State Legislature established a provision in the Highway Law,
which has been carried forward and is now contained in § 189,
Highways by use, of the New York State Highway Law.
B.
The Legislature
has determined that any highway that has been utilized by the public
for a period of 10 years or more and over which the local authority
has exercised some degree of control in the form of maintenance shall
be deemed a highway by use under the provisions of § 189
of the Highway Law. Once determined to be a § 189 highway,
the right of the public to traverse the area is made permanent. The
local municipality acquires a surface easement for the length and
width of the existing highway, which has been utilized in the manner
set forth above.
C.
Within
the past 10 years, the Town Board of the Town of Riverhead has determined
by resolution certain highways to be Town highways. Approximately
10 years ago, the Town Board commissioned a staff study of all the
remaining highways in the Town that were not formally dedicated Town
highways, not previously determined to be § 189 highways,
but upon which the Town performed any maintenance services. The staff
presented their study to the Town Board, and in December 2004, 74
roads were made part of the Town highway system.
D.
The Town
Board has been provided information that additional roads within the
Town of Riverhead have received Town maintenance services consisting
of plowing snow and sanding, but these roads have not yet been determined
to be § 189 highways. The staff also determined that these
41 highways met the criteria to be declared a § 189 highway
under this chapter.
E.
It is
with the purpose in mind of clarifying the rights, obligations and
duties of all owners of property and of the Town with respect to highways
which have been acquired by use that the Town Board enacts this article.
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 a § 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 or sanding 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 effective date of this article,
adopt a resolution formally certifying all § 189 highways
within the Town of Riverhead. 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 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 Riverhead 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 be accepted as § 189
highways within the Town of Riverhead except as provided for herein.
