Permanent Road Divisions

Purpose

A Permanent Road Division (PRD) is an assessment district that funds specified road maintenance activities that are described within its formation documents. A PRD is typically used to fund major road maintenance projects, such as slurry seals and asphalt overlays.  The assessments are collected on the property tax bill of all the properties included within the boundary of the PRD sub-zone.  Each year the assessments are adjusted based upon a consumer price index (CPI).  The funds collected are held by the County and can only be used on the roads in the PRD sub-zone for the specified maintenance listed in the formation documents.  This creates a "lock box" to protect the funds from being spent on other roads that are not in the PRD sub-zone.

Acceptance of roads into the County Maintained Road System

In 2003, the Board of Supervisors adopted a policy on the acceptance of roads into the County Maintained Road System. A road can be brought into the County Maintained Road System by forming a new PRD sub-zone or by annexing into an existing PRD sub-zone.  

The following items must be met in order for a road to be considered for inclusion in the County Maintained Road System:

1. 100% of the underlying landowners must be willing to grant public road easements to the County.  In some rare instances, a public right of way may exist and therefore there is no need to grant public road easements.
2. The road must be fully improved to County standards.
3. A Permanent Road Division is formed to fund road maintenance. This requires a Proposition 218 vote in which two-thirds (2/3) of the properties in the proposed PRD sub-zone must vote in favor of establishing an assessment district to fund the enhanced road maintenance.  Each property gets one vote.
4. There are no gates across the road. The road must be open to the public at all times.
5. The road connects to another County maintained road.

After all of the above criteria are met, the Department would then recommend to the Board of Supervisors that the road be accepted into the County Maintained Road System.  

See below for the Process to establish a Permanent Road Division Sub-Zone.

As an alternative to creating a publicly maintained road, a private road maintenance association may be created to fund road maintenance.  See the private roads webpage for information on maintaining private roads. 

New Subdivisions

When a subdivider proposes a subdivision in which new roads will be created or in which existing County maintained roads will be extended, the subdivider needs to decide if the roads will be privately maintained or publicly maintained. The PRD sub-zone can also maintain associated storm drain systems and storm water detention basins. If a subdivider decides to make the roads within the subdivision publicly maintained, the roads must:

• be fully improved to County standards.
• connect to other County maintained roads.
• have a PRD formed to fund ongoing road maintenance.  

The typical maintenance plan for a subdivision PRD is a repeating 30 year cycle that consists of a slurry seal on year 10, a slurry seal on year 20, and an overlay on year 30.  Storm drain infrastructure, if present, is to be replaced on a 60 year cycle that coincides with the overlay; this ensures that any trenching in the road is done prior to the overlay being installed. 

See below for the Process to establish a Permanent Road Division Sub-Zone.

Enhanced Road Maintenance for existing County Maintained Roads

Permanent Road Divisions can also be formed to fund enhanced road maintenance on existing roads in the County Maintained Road System.  As an example, if a neighborhood desires to have existing County maintained roads maintained to a higher standard than what the County currently provides, then the neighborhood can petition to create a PRD that would fund the desired level of road maintenance. This can be for one-time projects, on-going maintenance, or a combination of both.  

• One time projects can include paving the road.  Assessments would be collected for a specified period of time and then stop once the project is done. 
• On-going maintenance projects can include applying a slurry seal every 7 years.  Assessments could be collected to fund a series of road maintenance activities into the future and then stop; or the assessments can continue in perpetuity to keep funding future road maintenance needs.

A proposition 218 vote in which two-thirds (2/3) of the properties in the proposed PRD sub-zone must vote in favor of establishing an assessment district to fund the enhanced road maintenance. Each property gets one vote. 

See below for the Process to establish a Permanent Road Division Sub-Zone.

Process to establish a Permanent Road Division Sub-Zone

The following is a general overview of the steps required to form a PRD sub-zone.

1. Proponents have discussions with Public Works Land Use Division on the viability of forming a PRD sub-zone.
2. Proponents decide what road maintenance activities the PRD sub-zone will fund.
3. Proponents decide which roads the PRD will cover.
4. Proponents informally determine if two-thirds (2/3) of the affected landowners are willing to vote in favor of creating a new tax.  Each parcel gets one vote.
5. Proponents informally determine if 100% of the landowners over which the road passes are in favor of granting a public road easement to the County of Humboldt.
6. Proponents meet with Public Works Land Use Division to fine-tune the plan and establish the boundary of the PRD sub-zone.
7. Proponents submit the following items to Public Works Land Use Division for review and approval: (Note that Public Works has specific requirements for each item listed below.)
   • Petition
   • Affidavit of Valuation
   • Engineer's Report (prepared by proponents' civil engineer)
   • Assessment Map (prepared by proponents' civil engineer)
8. After Public Works approves the above items, Public Works will prepare an agenda item for the Board of Supervisors to consider adopting a resolution of intent to form a PRD sub-zone and establish a date to conduct a public hearing in which the formation of the PRD sub-zone will be considered.
9. Public Works will: 
   • post public notices along the roads that are proposed to be included in the PRD sub-zone.
   • publish a legal notice in the newspaper.
   • mails ballots to all parcels within the proposed PRD sub-zone.  One vote per parcel.
10. Public Works prepares an agenda item for the Board of Supervisors to conduct a public hearing to form the PRD sub-zone. During the public hearing, the ballots are tallied, and public testimony is considered by the Board of Supervisors in establishing the PRD sub-zone.  Due to proposition 218, two-thirds (2/3) of the properties in the proposed PRD sub-zone must vote in favor of establishing an assessment district to fund the enhanced road maintenance.  Each property gets one vote.
11. The assessment map is filed with the County Recorder.
12. On an annual basis, Public Works submits assessments for all parcels included in the PRD to the County Auditor-Controller for inclusion on the next tax bill.  Note that assessment amounts are increased annually by a Consumer Price Index (CPI) to account for "inflation".

Questions

If you have questions regarding PRDs, contact the Land Use Division at 707.445.7205. Staff will be able to provide specific procedures on how to go about forming  PRD sub-zone.  Staff can also answer questions for an established PRD sub-zone regarding what services are provided, current assessment amounts, the fund balance, fund expenditures, and planned projects.