2020.01.27 Council Agenda Item 10

There are many neighborhoods/subdivisions in Falmouth that are accessed by private streets. These developments historically required Planning Board approval and through that review process were required to build these private streets to standards that are mostly consistent with how public streets are constructed. Occasionally, the residents in these developments will request that the Town Council accept private streets as public roads or streets. In order to attain public street status, the Town Council relies on ordinances, policies, and past practice. The attached presentation about the street acceptance process, will be offered at the January 27, 2020 Town Council meeting prior to the discussion about a specific request to accept private roads Alpine Drive and Sylvan Drive as public streets. 

The residents of the Alpine Drive and Sylvan Drive neighborhood approached town staff in 2017 about the process to accept these private streets as public streets. On January 11, 2017, an application was submitted to request the streets be accepted as public streets. Staff and the town attorney reviewed the application and sent a letter to the applicant on February 7, 2017. The letter identified some threshold/compliance issues and outlined the process for implementing the corrective measures. From the time of that letter through late last year, there were no formal resubmittals from the applicant to the Public Works Director. The original developer, Ralph Sama, had been in contact with the Town Manager during that time frame to discuss connectivity requirements. This is one of the critical threshold/compliance issues. It has been a practice and policy for the Town Council to prefer connectivity from one neighborhood to another via automobile or other mode. On January 6, 2020, town staff met with residents in the neighborhood and the developer. At that time, it was discussed that most issues could be resolved but staff suggested that the applicant seek Town Council guidance on connectivity. The purpose this agenda item is to first give the Town Council a presentation on the street acceptance process and then to have the applicant propose a connectivity solution. The applicant is seeking conceptual agreement with their proposed connectivity solution and if the Town Council is in agreement, the applicant will work with staff and the town attorney to finish the application for Town Council consideration at a later date.

The applicant has submitted a cover letter and subdivision plans that will be reviewed at the meeting and used to demonstrate the applicants' suggested connectivity design.