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River Road and other neighborhoods urge Lane County to accept local access roads into county system
Summary
Dozens of residents at the March 18 meeting urged Lane County to incorporate local access roads — residential streets the county classifies as LARs — into the county-maintained road system, saying homeowners unexpectedly bear maintenance responsibility and liability.
Residents from River Road, Park Terrace, Oak Drive, Santa Rosa and other neighborhoods told the Lane County Board of County Commissioners on March 18 that the county’s classification of many streets as "local access roads" (LARs) is unfair and places maintenance and liability burdens on homeowners.
Speakers including Laura Hsu, Joshua Killis, Linda Lovick, Mary Leone and others said they purchased homes without knowing streets were LARs and that their roads look and function like other county-maintained streets. "Private citizens should never bear liability for public assets," Hsu said. "You have the authority to accept these roads as they are. They should have been accepted decades ago."
Several residents described the practical and financial impacts: Linda Lovick said many neighbors are elderly or on fixed incomes and could not form road associations to cover repairs. Mary Leone said her one-block Santa Rosa Street is paved with curbs and drainage connected to city systems yet is designated an LAR. Ellie Lipinski and Kevin Studer described potholes, a dirt road in front of a recently purchased home, and overgrown vegetation that narrows a lane.
Homeowners described community meetings with strong turnout and dozens of signed petitions. Joshua Killis said Fairway Drive "may be beyond the point of no return," and urged the board to "act now and vote to adopt all local access roads within the urban growth boundary into the county road portfolio." Several speakers suggested the county should accept roads "as is" and then coordinate annexation or transfer to cities later.
County Administrator and staff told the board they will schedule a work session on local access roads so the board can discuss the issue with public works and county counsel. The administrator said a work session date would be set and that public works staff will participate. Commissioners did not take immediate action to reclassify or accept specific roads at the meeting.
Ending: The board acknowledged public concern and said it will hold a work session on LARs; no ordinance or vote to accept local access roads was taken on March 18.
