County Council voted 6 - 4 to postpone the Third Reading of an ordinance to provide one-time maintenance on private roads to ensure emergency vehicles can reach residents.

Council Member Logan Cunningham motioned to send the item back to the Community Services Committee to provide additional information to Council.

“There’s a lot of unanswered questions that we didn’t have time to get answered, and staff could help,” said Cunningham. “I do think there are some positive aspects to this, but there’s also a lot of question marks that I think we need to get answered before we can create a blanket ordinance when we don’t know how many roads, its legality, nor how much it will cost.”

County staff will work to gather questions from all the Council Members and will provide an update at the Community Services Committee Meeting, Monday, November 7, at 2 p.m. The Public Hearing and Third Reading will be on the agenda for the December 12 County Council Meeting.

The ordinance would allow the Beaufort County Public Works Department to provide one-time public safety work on a private road that would ensure access for emergency medical services, fire, and police to access properties safely.

“We are not talking about maintaining these roads,” said Council Member Paul Sommerville. “We’re talking about the minimum fix it takes to be able to get emergency vehicles down the road.”

County staff has currently identified about 25 private roads that need immediate attention. The Department of Public Works is limited to the minimum improvements that will allow full and quick access to the affected residences. Crusher run, gravel, pipe, or other materials will not be provided.

“We’ve already anticipated that there may be 25 roads; if an emergency were to happen on that road, we would have a problem. Now we may have the means and methods of addressing those roads,” said Council Chairman Joe Passiment.

There will be a very narrow set of circumstances under which this maintenance can occur. With recommendations from the Fire Chief within that district and the EMS Director or their designee, the County Administrator will have approval authority.

The group will recommend providing minimally necessary entrances and exits where a public health emergency or an urgent medical need exists, making access to a roadway necessary

If public health or medical emergency exists or upon request and certification signed by a licensed medical doctor that an urgent medical need exists, it is determined that access to such roadway is necessary.

The County Administrator can also authorize the use of public resources in the following circumstances:

• In the case of natural disasters such as floods, tornadoes, hurricanes, and earthquakes or man-made disasters, such as explosions, fires, and pollution
• Access to roads leading to borrow pits purchased, donated, or leased to the county for construction materials
• To clean up, repair, or resurface property that has been damaged or altered by the parking, storage, or transporting of county equipment or materials
• To settle or compromise litigation that is threatened or instituted because of some condition created by or for which the county is legally responsible or liable
• For temporary detours or bypasses while county roads or bridges are being constructed, repaired, resurfaced, or maintained
• To aid municipalities, special purpose districts, and special tax districts within Beaufort County in the construction, repair, or maintenance of roadways or other projects located within municipal or district boundaries

Additional requirements would be that work would constitute a public purpose and the following conditions exist:

• Such a roadway is the only access for one (1) or more property owners or residences, and
• Emergency medical services, sheriff department vehicles, and other County vehicles cannot, in the lawful performance of their duties, gain full and immediate access to at least one (1) residence unless road scraping is performed, and
• At least one (1) of the properties to be accessed is used as a primary residence.
• Any work pursuant to this section will be done on a one-time basis