New county law allows for emergency grading on privately-owned roads

A recently-approved ordinance can help residents living on private roads in the unincorporated parts of Valencia County with temporary emergency grading if there is a public safety risk.

The ordinance, which was approved unanimously at the Sept. 17 Valencia County Commission meeting and took effect immediately, establishes an emergency grading policy for private and non-county public roads that allows the public works department to grade and make limited repairs to those roads under certain circumstances.

Lina Benavidez, the county public works director, told the commissioners a recent rain storm completely washed out two private roads in Meadow Lake and residents couldn’t get in or out of their properties.

“We did go out and evaluate the roads. It was bad, about 4-5 feet deep with exposed water lines, gas lines and other utilities,” Benavidez said. “Currently, we can only do courtesy grades on private roads and that’s limited to once a year when we can. With these last rains, we had people who couldn’t get out for about three days.”

The ordinance allows the county to bring in materials for repairs, she said, and do a courtesy grade in an emergency.

“This is for bringing in dirt only, and this would only be done on an emergency basis,” the director said. “These families couldn’t get out and emergency services also couldn’t get to them if they were called.”

To request emergency repairs, a resident must fill out and sign a sworn affidavit declaring the road conditions cause an immediate risk to health, safety or welfare because damage prevents emergency responders from accessing the property, residents can’t evacuate safely and/or access is needed for urgent medical/food/water delivery.

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Valencia County Manager Jhonathan Aragon said a determination will also be made by the county fire chief or district chief on whether emergency vehicles can navigate the road.

“The biggest issue is making sure (residents) can get emergency services,” Aragon said.

Commissioner Joseph Bizzell asked if the county would be liable for any damage done during an emergency repair. County attorney Dave Pato said the county would probably be responsible for any damage ultimately, but part of the affidavit asks the resident requesting repairs to hold the county harmless.

“I want to make sure if we do this, we get emergency spots and get utilities out there as fast as possible so the county doesn’t damage anything not put in properly,” Bizzell said. “So the utility (company) doesn’t hold us responsible and say we didn’t call for a spot.”

Benavidez noted the county frequently calls for utility marking during emergencies and gets a quick response from the companies.

Commissioner Troy Richardson asked if there were roads still in need of work due to damage from the recent rains that would fall under the new ordinance. Benavidez said there weren’t.

“We helped out those who really, really needed it,” she said.

If a resident needs assistance under this ordinance, they can contact the Valencia County Public Works Department at 505-866-2475.