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By LOU HATTER
Baptahannodi Newt 9teff Writer
The Scott subdivision plat, approved by the Washington Town Council last month, was changed before it was recorded in the Clerk’s Office, according to Town Attorney Prank Reynolds. “I have a problem,” he told the council at its meeting on July 13.
As approved by the council, the plat had a private driveway running up the middle of a “pipestem” of land from its frontage on Piedmont Ave. to the two lots at the back of the parcel. Each lot had 10 feet of right-of-way dedicated to the driveway.
According to the Rev. Richard Scott, who subdivided the parcel, he chose the arrangement to allow for the best aesthetic use of the property. It also allowed him to avoid a right-of-way easement to the back lots, and Sidestepped the subdivision ordinance’s requirev ment that ail private roads within a subdivision be built to Virginia Department of Transportation specifications.
But as the plat was recorded at the Clerk’s Office, all the land for die driveway lies on the pipestem of the middle lot, with no land dedicated for the driveway from the lot on either side, Mr. Reynolds told the council.
According to the resolution adopted by the council last month, a road maintenance agreement must be recorded before either of the two lots may be sold. This would set forth the conditions for upkeep of the road, which would be done jointly by the owners of the two lots.
But, with the plat recorded with the driveway completely on the middle lot, “it seems that is not what you approved,” Mr. Reynolds told the council
Mayor Dean Morehouse told the council that he had initialed the plat before it was recorded at the Clerk’s Office, but had not taken notice of the change in the configuration of the roadway.
“The council was told,” added council member Ray Gooch, “that we had a final plat. It was apparently only a preliminary plat.” However, he pointed out, the two lots cannot be sold until the council approves a maintenance agreement. “We can enforce the private road requirement.”
“If he wants to keep it,” Mayor Morehouse said, “then the road must be built to state standards. If not, he must rerecord the plat. . . The ordinance applies if you’ve got private streets - and that is a private street the way it is recorded.”
The council passed a resolution giving Rev. Scott notice that 1) lots 2 and 3 may not be sold until the road is replatted in the position approved by the council; 2) the sale of lot 1 is not affected by the problem; and, 3) the town, although it has authority of approval over subdivision applications, does not wish to become a party to any agreement.
Further, the resolution stated, if a road is built in the place indicated on the plat, in the opinion of the council it would constitute a private street within the subdivision and must be built to Virginia Department of Transportation specifications.
Water system grants proceed
With preliminary approval of part of the funds for the renovation of Washington’s water system already in hand, Mayor Morehouse reported that another proposal is on the way to Richmond. The paperwork for the Community Development Block Grant is being processed, he
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