LAMORINDA WEEKLY | Orinda road plans deferred due to private roads issue


This private road is one of many in Orinda in need of repair, but the miles of private roads in Orinda are currently not maintained by the city. Photo Tod Fierner

A controversial issue that has been appearing before the city council frequently in the past months was again brought up on Feb. 6 and led the council to defer a decision on the most recent plan for road and drainage repairs. The issue concerns Orinda's private roads. The council had asked the Citizen Infrastructure Oversight Commission to provide past history or ratings of the public roads at the time of incorporation in 1985, but the CIOC says that such data is not available. Several speakers urged the council not to approve the current CIOC Road and Drainage Repairs Plan, and Council Member Darlene Gee suggested, in light of the continuing issue of private roads that staff is currently working on, that the council not move ahead with approval of the plan.

Orinda resident Steve Cohn sent an email to the council members urging that they defer action on the plan. Residents Charles Porges and Melissa Roeder spoke at the meeting, continuing to urge the council to find a way to deal with private roads. According to the commenters, there are 29 miles of private roads in Orinda. Although residents of private roads pay all the same taxes as residents on public roads, public roads are maintained by the city and private roads are not. Porges urged the city to commission a survey of the condition of the private roads, which, he said, could be done by the city quite inexpensively while surveys of each private road by the residents would be prohibitively expensive.

Council Member Inga Miller asked Public Works Director Larry Theis to confirm that no funding was contingent upon approval of the plan, and when he did, the council agreed unanimously to defer the matter to a future agenda. Mayor Amy Worth also noted that staff is currently working on the private roads question, which is due to come back to the council in March. The staff report, which contains the list of roads that will be repaired in 2019, is available on the city's website.

Wayfinding moves forward

Another project that raised some public objection was the approval of the proposed Crossroads area and Bart wayfinding signs. The project, which has been some years in development, was undertaken in conjunction with Bart and was partially funded by a grant shared by the city and Bart. Nick Waranoff objected to the project, stating that it will cost the city $76,000 out of its own pocket. Waranoff also believes that, given the current widespread use of cellphones for navigation, the signs are unnecessary to help pedestrians and bicyclists find their way around Orinda.

Theis, responding to questions from the council, explained that the additional funding is proposed to come from the Transportation Impact Fee Fund, which can be used for projects that help pedestrians and bicyclists and by encouraging the use of these alternative modes of transportation, reduce vehicular traffic. The council, after considering the comments, passed the matter unanimously, authorizing staff to immediately commence with bidding for the project.