[Adopted as Title 6, Ch. 2, of the 2004 Code]
An application under this article to lay out and construct a new Town highway, other than as part of a new subdivision or plat, may be filed by six or more resident freeholders of the Town. Said application must be in writing and it may be delivered to any Supervisor or the Town Clerk. The application shall contain a complete description and survey map of the property in question. New streets and roads in subdivisions and plats shall be constructed pursuant to this Chapter 358, Article II, where it is not in conflict with the Town Subdivision Ordinance in Chapter 361 of this Code.
A.Â
No Town highway shall be laid out, through or upon any cemetery without
the consent of those having the control of the cemetery.
B.Â
No Town highway shall be laid through or upon any structure, yard
or enclosure used for educational or charitable purposes.
C.Â
No Supervisor shall act in laying out, altering, widening or discontinuing
any highway in which he/she may be personally interested.
D.Â
When the laying out of a highway would require the construction of
a bridge costing more than $1,000, exclusive of donations, the order
of the Supervisors laying out such highway shall not be effective
unless approved by the electors of the Town, and an estimate by the
Wisconsin Department of Transportation shall be conclusive of the
cost of such bridge for the purposes of this section.
E.Â
Without the consent of the owner, no Town highway shall be laid out
through or upon any garden or orchard or any building or fixture used
for trade or manufacture or any other building or fixture or the yard
or enclosure necessary to the use thereof when the damage thereby
caused thereto, exclusive of the damage to the land, exceeds $300.
A.Â
On application made pursuant to § 358-4 above, the Town Board shall prepare a notice fixing therein a time and place at which it will meet and decide upon the application.
B.Â
The notice shall specify as near as practicable the highway proposed
to be laid out, widened, altered or discontinued and the tracts of
land through which the highway passes.
C.Â
If the application is for discontinuance, the notice shall specify
the tracts of land abutting on the highway which will be benefited
or injured by such discontinuance.
D.Â
When the description in the aggregate exceeds 200 words in length,
the notice may state that such descriptions are contained in the application
as provided in § 82.10(1), Wis. Stats., and shall give the
name and address of the Town Clerk to whom the application has been
delivered.
A.Â
Applicants shall, at least 10 days prior to date of hearing, give
notice by registered mail to all occupants and owners of record of
lands through which the highway may pass.
B.Â
Applicants shall give notice to the Wisconsin Department of Natural
Resources by registered mail.
C.Â
Applicants shall give notice to the Winnebago County Land and Water
Conservation Department by registered mail.
D.Â
Applicants shall publish the notice as a Class 2 notice under Ch.
985, Wis. Stats.
E.Â
Failure of applicants to comply with this section will invalidate
the entire proceeding.
B.Â
The Supervisors are to be satisfied that all notices as required
by this article and the laws of the State of Wisconsin have been complied
with.
C.Â
The Supervisors shall personally examine the highway which is the
subject of the application and shall hear any reason that may be offered
for or against laying out, widening or altering the highway.
E.Â
The Supervisors may adjourn said hearing from time to time, not exceeding
in all 30 days from the time of the first meeting, giving public notice
of the time and place of such adjournment and by filing forthwith
notice of such adjournment in the office of the Town Clerk.
A.Â
When Supervisors lay out, alter, widen or discontinue any highway,
they shall make and sign an order therefor, incorporating therein
a description of the highway, and cause survey thereof to be made
when necessary.
C.Â
The order and award of damage shall be filed and recorded in the
office of the Town Clerk within 10 days after the date fixed by the
notice or adjournment for deciding upon the application.
D.Â
If the Supervisors fail to file the order and award within 10 days,
they shall be deemed to have decided against the application.
E.Â
A certified copy of the order shall be transmitted by the Town Clerk
to the Winnebago County Highway Commissioner.
A.Â
The applicant(s) shall secure a release of damages from all occupants
and owners of record and file it with the Town Clerk. The damages
sustained by any person upon whose land any highway to be laid out,
widened or altered shall be fixed by agreement signed by the owner
and the Supervisors and be filed in the Town Clerk's office. Such
agreement and every release of damages given shall bar any further
claims for damages by the owner and all persons claiming under him/her.
A land conveyance shall accompany the release of damages, which shall
be properly recorded with the Winnebago County Register of Deeds.
B.Â
If any owner does not so agree with the Supervisors as to his/her
damages or does not deliver to the Supervisors a written release of
all claims for damages, the Supervisors shall, at the time of making
the highway order, assess the damages and make a written award specifying
the sum awarded by them to each owner. The award shall be signed by
the Supervisors and be filed in the Town Clerk's office with the order
laying out, widening, altering or discontinuing the highway.
All expenses involved in the preparation, construction and dedication
involved in highway construction under this article shall be borne
by the applicant(s).
Prior to design, preparation and construction of any roadway
to be dedicated to the Town of Vinland, the applicant shall notify
the Town Road Supervisor. An on-site meeting shall then be arranged
to be attended by the Town Road Supervisor, the applicant's engineer
and applicant. Plans must be provided in order for the Town Road Supervisor
or other designated qualified individual to check the design and the
drainage.
At the option of the Town Board, the applicant(s) shall prepare
the highway (grade, ditch and gravel, etc.) one year and surface it
the next year in order to further compact the roadbed. If so, the
applicant(s) shall provide a bond or irrevocable letter of credit
which would enable the Town to finish the road in case of default
by the applicant(s). The performance bond, irrevocable letter of credit
or cash escrow agreement shall be equal to the Town Board's or its
consultant's estimated cost of the required improvements adjusted
for inflation. If the required improvements are not completed within
the eighteen-month period, all amounts held under the escrow agreement
or performance bond shall be turned over and delivered to the Town
and applied to the cost of the required improvements. Any balance
remaining after such improvements have been made shall be returned
to the owner or subdivider. The Town Board, at its option, may extend
the bond period for any additional period not to exceed one year;
however, the initial bond shall be required to run one year beyond
the initial date of acceptance of improvements.
The following "construction specifications for roads constructed
by private parties standards" shall be applicable for both new roads
ordered constructed under this article and for roads required as a
condition of new plat/land division approval. The following minimum
construction specifications shall pertain to roads, including roads
set out on plats, in the Town of Vinland, and these specifications
must be met before such roads shall be accepted by the Town of Vinland
as public roads:
A.Â
Road of right-of-way. The road shall have a right-of-way width of
66 feet.
B.Â
Preparation of road base. The road right-of-way shall be graded and
drained to include sufficient ditches and culvert pipes for adequate
drainage of the area, considering the highway and adjacent land development,
including proposed development. The road shall be graded with a thirty-foot
top and the back slope of ditches shall end not less than two feet
from the right-of-way line. That part of the road right-of-way not
occupied by the road shall be graded with gradual sloping ditches
having a minimum depth of 18 inches from the grade level of abutting
property. Materials excavated from the construction of ditches shall
be used as necessary for raising and leveling the roadbed.
C.Â
Culverts.
(1)Â
Private entrance culverts. Private entrance culvert pipes shall be
placed in ditches so as to provide adequate drainage of standing and
running water. Private entrance culvert pipes shall be a minimum of
18 inches in diameter and 24 feet in length and shall be of sufficient
size to carry the surface water drainage of the area, considering
the highway and adjacent land development, including proposed development.
(2)Â
Public culverts. Public culverts, including culverts at the entrance
to connecting public road, shall be a minimum of 18 inches in diameter
and 40 feet in length.
(3)Â
Culs-de-sac. Any road which at a terminus does not connect with a
public road shall be constructed with a cul-de-sac having a minimum
diameter of 100 feet, exclusive of ditches.
D.Â
Minimum requirements concerning material.
(1)Â
Base. All roads shall have a base constructed of crushed stone, which
shall be in order to provide a base course of 111 tons per 100 running
feet and a surface course of 81 tons per 100 running feet with a road
surface width of 28 feet. To allow for proper base settling, no final
surface layer construction will be conducted for at least one year
from completion date of the proposed road base construction.
(2)Â
Stone size. The base course shall consist of seven inches of one-and-one-half-inch
crusher run or larger stone. The top course shall consist of five
inches of three-fourths-inch crusher run stone. The applicant shall
furnish a written certificate of the supplier of stone, certifying
the road proposed for acceptance by the Town of Vinland, upon request
of the Town Board.
(3)Â
Additional base material. If in the opinion of the Town Board/Road Supervisor
soil forming the foundation for a road proposed to be accepted by
the Town of Vinland is unstable as a result of water saturation or
unstable composition of soils or is otherwise so unstable as to preclude
the construction of a sound and durable public road in accordance
with the minimum specifications otherwise established by this section,
the Town Board of the Town of Vinland may require construction of
additional base materials before such road shall be accepted as a
public road.
(4)Â
Surface course. The surface must consist of either crushed aggregate
or bituminous concrete composition suitable for anticipated traffic
loads. The minimum amount of pavement necessary for acceptance must
be at least four inches in thickness. Such material shall be laid
down at a width not less than 22 feet with its center line corresponding
to the center line of the right-of-way.
(5)Â
Shouldering. Shouldering shall be placed on each side of the pavement.
Shouldering must correspond with the height of the pavement. It shall
be a gravel mixture of one-half-inch or five-eighths-inch crusher
run with a width of two feet from said pavement on each side.
(6)Â
Authority of higher standards. The road design standards in this
subsection as stated above are intended to be minimum design standards.
The Town Board shall have the discretion to impose higher design standards
where, in the opinion of the Town Board, local conditions require
higher standards or anticipated traffic in quantity or quality will
require higher standards.
E.Â
Time for acceptance. No road shall be accepted by the Town of Vinland
as a public road until after the expiration of one year after the
construction of such road has been completed.
Upon completion of the proposed highway, the Town Road Supervisor
or any other qualified individual shall proceed to make the final
inspection, accepting or rejecting road, as the case may be. After
all the provisions of this article have been complied with, the roadway
or easement will be inspected by the Town Road Supervisor and, at
that time, proof will be made by the presenting of waivers of liens
or receipted bills that all work that has been done has been paid
for or arrangements have been made for the payment through written
instruction by the subdivider. If the road is rejected, corrections
shall be made as recommended by the Town Road Supervisor, upon the
recommendation of a qualified individual or firm, before final inspection
can then be made again. If final acceptance is then made, the owner
or owners shall turn over to the Town the deed of all land necessary
for the road as previously mentioned.