EPHRATA — Grant County officials are looking at the possibility of residents using a long-existing state law to facilitate the development of roads in unincorporated areas. Grant County Engineer David Bren explained the concept of a “road improvement district” to commissioners last week.

Bren said in a separate interview that the idea is to allow neighborhoods to work with county officials to improve a road, and set up the mechanism to pay for it.

“The idea is a neighborhood just says, ‘Hey, you know what? We’re tired of having an (unimproved) road,’” he said.

A road improvement district is a group effort, Bren said.

“So when the majority of those that are in that district - usually it’s people that have properties that are right along that road, but you can include properties that are accessible by that road. So sometimes you have easements or private roads coming off a public road,” he said.

“As a group they can come together and they can decide to move forward with a road improvement district. There’s a voting process; the (commissioners) are involved as well throughout the process. There are a whole bunch of public meetings, there are hearings - there are multiple levels,” he said.

The state law authorizing road improvement districts dates back to 1951, Bren said. There are multiple ways to begin the process, but all of them start with interest from the property owners.

“One of them is initiated by petition,” Bren said. “There’s another one that is initiated by what’s called a resolution of intention. Usually it starts with a letter of interest from the neighborhood.”

County officials then check to see if there is enough interest in the area in question to proceed.

“What may happen is, staff may say, ‘You know what, there are only five people that are interested in doing this. The other 20 don’t want to do it.’”

If it’s determined there is enough interest, the next step is a public notice.

“All those people who are affected - even those that have never been involved yet or who are against it - they have to be mailed notices that there’s going to be a hearing (on the proposal), the date, time and place of the hearing. And there’s an election ballot in that mailing, too. The reason why you deliver the election ballot early is so (property owners) can really think about this.”

Commissioners then conduct a feasibility hearing, taking testimony from both proponents and opponents. The commissioners must determine whether or not the benefits of the improvement would be worth more than the estimated cost. If the project cost outweighs the benefits, the commissioners cannot approve the proposal.

If it’s determined the project meets the criteria the proposal is submitted for a vote. The number of votes each landowner receives depends on the value of the property, Bren said.

Landowners along the road get an assessment to pay for the project, he said.

“Effectively it’s a bond, so it’s really low interest,” he said.

The payback provision is established by the county, but landowners also have the option to pay their portion of the cost in a lump sum.

Bren said it’s another mechanism for road improvement, one that hasn’t been used much in Grant County, but he wanted the commissioners and the public to know it existed.

“There are probably specific people out there that are interested, but we haven’t gotten anything from them yet,’ he said.

Cheryl Schweizer may be reached at [email protected].