The below "Public road" definition is on the November 8th agenda for discussion and vote by the SRCD board as a proposed amendment to the District's Bylaws. If approved by the Board, it will be inserted alphabetically in Section 1.05 of the by-laws, following the definition of "Property" and all following definitions shall be renumbered accordingly.
The below information is an explanation of how the definition was derived and the actual amendment to the Bylaws is only the definition for "Public roads" in section 1.05 of the District's by-laws.
The State of WV and the WVDOH has the following references to "Public roads" in it's Code:
§17-1-3. "Road"; "public road"; "highway".
The words or terms "road", "public road" or "highway" shall be deemed to include, but shall not be limited to, the right-of-way, roadbed and all necessary culverts, sluices, drains, ditches, waterways, embankments, slopes, retaining walls, bridges, tunnels and viaducts necessary for the maintenance of travel, dispatch of freight and communication between individuals and communities; and such public road or highway shall be taken to include any road to which the public has access and which it is not denied the right to use, or any road or way leading from any other public road over the land of another person, and which shall have been established pursuant to law. Any road shall be conclusively presumed to have been established when it has been used by the public for a period of ten years or more, and public moneys or labor have been expended thereon, whether there be any record of its conveyance, dedication or appropriation to public use or not.
§17-1-28. State and public roads.
"State road" shall mean and include all roads classified and prescribed as either "expressway," "trunkline," "feeder," or "state local service" roads. "Public roads" shall mean all other roads and bridges under the control of the county court or the governing body of a municipality.
All of the above definitions contained in the WV Code precede the enactment of §7-25 Resort Area District Act and as such do not specifically address "Public roads" as they relate to a Resort Area District. It is the Governing Documents committees recommendation that these definitions be applied to the SRCD, and specifically the second sentence of §17-1-28 be interpreted as if to read as follows:
"Public roads" shall mean all roads and bridges under the control of the county court or the governing body of a municipality or the governing body of a Resort Area District.
For ease of understanding, identification of and the provisioning of services and projects of "Public roads" within the boundaries of the SRCD, it is the Governing Documents committees further recommendation that the following definition be added to the SRCD By-laws Section 1.05 Definitions.
“Public roads” located within the District boundaries are defined as those roads, streets, lanes, paths, bridges and other byways, owned by or leased to and under the control of the SRCD. The words or terms, "public road" shall be deemed to include, but shall not be limited to, the right-of-way, roadbed and all necessary culverts, sluices, drains, ditches, waterways, embankments, slopes, retaining walls, bridges, tunnels and viaducts necessary for travel, dispatch of freight, ingress and egress by the public and which the public is not generally denied access and the right to use.