All street and roads to be accepted as public streets and roads by the township shall be constructed in accordance with the minimum requirements and specifications as set forth in subsection
12-8.2 of the Subdivision Chapter of the Township of Wantage.
No street or road already constructed shall be accepted by the
township unless the township engineer shall certify that such street
or road is in such condition as to substantially comply with the standards
prescribed for new streets or roads, or until the owner thereof shall
have improved such street or road in accordance with the recommendations
of the township engineer, so that the same shall be in substantial
compliance with the requirements pertaining to the construction of
new roads and streets.
Before the acceptance of any road or street by the township,
an affidavit shall be made by the owner or developer certifying that
all the costs incurred in the construction of the road or street have
been paid.
The acceptance of any street or road shall be by ordinance directly
adopted according to law.
[Ord. #72-18; Ord. #73-8]
This section shall be known as the "Road Acceptance Ordinance
of Wantage Township."
There are many existing private roads in the township, which
were constructed prior to the existence of any township regulations
establishing minimum road standards. Many of the residents living
on these roads have indicated their desire to have the township accept
and maintain these roads as public roads. The township committee has
heretofore enacted this section for the purpose of establishing standards
and procedure for the acceptance of these roads. No private roads
have been accepted under these standards until December 30, 1972 and
the committee believes this situation to be due mainly to the fact
that it is not economically possible for most of these residents to
comply with these standards, it is declared that the purpose of this
section is to amend the previous "Road Acceptance Ordinance of Wantage
Township" and any other ordinance governing or affecting road standards
so that persons living on such existing private roads which have sufficient
public interest may be afforded a better opportunity to improve these
roads and have them accepted as public roads by the township. It is
recognized that some private roads do not have sufficient public interest
to justify their maintenance with public funds, and nothing in this
section shall be construed as making it mandatory for the township
to accept any private road. Furthermore, so as to provide for an orderly
procedure to obtain the necessary personnel and equipment to provide
adequate maintenance service, the township may elect to accept no
more than five miles of private roads in any year. Neither shall any
provision in this section be construed as a limitation of the township's
right to abandon any public road whenever it is in the best interest
of the township to do so.
Where existing buildings, rock formations, topography or existing
dedicated rights of way now paved or hard surfaced as of December
30, 1972 would physically prohibit the conformance to the specifications
of this section, or create undue hardship in the opinion of the township
committee, the township committee upon the recommendation of the township
engineer, may modify any of the provisions of this section.