(A) This section governs the Supervisor and County Road Department’s role with respect to any letter of encroachment as that term is defined in § 152.01 of this chapter.
(B) A letter of encroachment, or a denial thereof, means a tentative, conditional written approval, or denial, by the Supervisor stating, for each lot shown in a professionally prepared survey plat, whether or not that lot may have an access to and from an existing county road rights-of-way or proposed county road rights-of-way to be dedicated to the county, and if so, whether more than one access will be allowed for each lot, and if so, how many.
(C) The Supervisor shall not begin to address whether or not to issue or deny a letter of encroachment until after he or she, or his or her designee in the County Road Department, receives a survey plat professionally prepared by a licensed surveyor of a proposed subdivision that, in the judgment of the Supervisor, adequately shows enough technical and location information to enable the Supervisor to make an informed decision.
(D) For each proposed subdivision, the Supervisor shall be allowed a maximum of 20 working days from the date of his or her receipt, or his or her designee’s receipt, of all information that satisfies the requirements of division (C) above before the Road Department issues a letter or letters of encroachment, or a denial or denials thereof, for that subdivision.
(E) No subdivision application may be submitted to the County Planning and Zoning Department until the applicant receives the appropriate letter(s) of encroachment from the County Road Department that tentatively approve(s) access to and from an existing or proposed county road rights-of-way to the lot or lots in question.
(F) The County Executive Administrator, in consultation with the County Zoning Administrator, County Planning and Zoning Department, the County Road Department, the County Recorder and the County Surveyor, shall institute a day-to-day practice to ensure coordinated compliance with the aforementioned requirements for letters of encroachment.
(G) A letter of encroachment is not an actual road encroachment permit as defined and governed herein, and a letter of encroachment is controlled by and subject to the Supervisor’s subsequent approval or denial of an application for an encroachment permit, as well as subject to the terms, conditions and specifications of the approved road encroachment permit.
(H) A letter of encroachment does not determine the actual location of each proposed access for a given lot, as that is controlled and subject to the road encroachment permit application process and ultimate encroachment permit and its terms, conditions and specifications; the letter of encroachment rather merely determines whether and how many accesses shall be allowed for each county road rights-of-way, or proposed county road rights-of-way, that fronts, or may front, each proposed lot in question. A site plan shall be submitted with the permit application where new access will be placed and dimensions to where the access will be installed. If a variance from the original site plan is desired, a new submittal to the County Road Department will be required.
(I) In a case where the Supervisor does not timely issue a letter of encroachment, or in a case where the Supervisor timely issues a letter of encroachment but tentatively denies access to and from an existing or proposed county road rights-of-way and the lot or lots in question as applied for, or in a case where the Supervisor issues a letter of encroachment with one or more conditions that the applicant finds objectionable, then the applicant, within 30 days of the date of the letter’s written denial (or 30 days of the last date that the Supervisor had to timely issue the letter), may submit a written request to the County Board of Commissioners for review of the Supervisor’s action or non-action. The Board of Commissioners shall allow the applicant an opportunity to appear and be heard at a public meeting, either specially called or during a regularly scheduled Commission meeting, not later than 20 working days following the filing of the applicant’s said request for review, and the Board shall render their decision in writing not later than ten days following such meeting.
(J) Any letter of encroachment, conditional letter of encroachment or denial thereof shall advise the applicant of his or her right to submit a written request to the County Board of Commissioners for review of the Supervisor’s decision and shall set forth the language of the preceding subsection.
(Ord. 2023-4-1, passed 4-10-2023)