Work on updating Dayton’s town road map is not on the agenda for the February town board meeting.
Due to the primary election on Tuesday, the monthly town board meeting will be held at 7 p.m. Monday, Feb. 18, at the Dayton Town Hall, E2285 State Highway 22.
Early this week, Casey Plunkett sent out an email with a link to two lists of town roads.
The first list indicates road right-of-ways and parcels that the Town Planning Commission is currently reviewing.
The second list indicates possible future projects for expanding roads, turning dead ends into through-ways or turning private roads into official town roads.
Plunkett said he plans to raise questions about the road lists at the Feb. 18 meeting.
“I’m not saying that in some cases this are not a valid idea. But this concept of shoot first and ask questions later just blows me away,” Plunkett said. “The points I’m going to make (at Monday’s meeting) are: What are the benefits? What are the costs? Where is the public input?”
Plunkett said he was concerned that without public input or traffic analysis, major changes could be made in traffic patterns that would affect residents on those roads.
Town Chairman Chris Klein told the County Post Thursday that the lists of roads are part of a process to update Dayton’s road maps.
“The official records do not always agree,” Klein said, noting that the town is working with a surveyor to determine where there are right-of-ways for town roads or roads serving only one property that may be abandoned. Those roads are indicated on the first list.
“In some cases, old plats deeded property to the town for a town road but the roads were never constructed. In some cases, an access was platted or identified as a town road but never used or maintained as a town road,” Klein said.
The second list, Klein said, is of possible roads that may be developed in the future.
He gave as an example Old Mill Run. It currently ends in a cul de sac. In the future, land in the town of Lind that is currently being farmed could some day be developed into a subdivision. If the developer wanted to connect the subdivision to a town road that possibility would be available.
Klein stressed that Dayton taxpayers would not be responsible for paying for any of these changes, if they occur. The developer or the residents living there would pay special assessments.
Klein also said that the road projects on the second list will not be implemented unless the people living there requested them. Whether it’s an extension of a dead end road or bringing a private road up to town standards, the residents would be the driving force to make it happen.
“That’s how new town roads are created,” Klein said. “The people living there would petition the town to do it, but each of the property owners would be assessed for it.”
Klein said he expects it will take about six months for the surveyor to complete her report. At that time, the Planning Commission will determine the town road map and which road right-of-ways to abandon and which to develop.
“We are planning for the future, looking at what should happen in our town 25 years from now,” Klein said.
Work on updating
To see the lists that are part of the discussion for the Dayton road map go to: http://town-dayton.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Proposed-Town-Road-Map-changes1.pdf Dayton