Community Corner

New Fees for Road Cuts

The town hopes to recoup the full costs of road repairs associated with construction and utility work.

The town hopes homeowners, contractors and utility crews will now think twice before cutting into one of New Canaan's streets. The Board of Selectmen have approved bigger fees for road opening permits.

Up until now, New Canaan has been charging $0.20 per square foot, with a minimum fee of $30 and a maximum of $400. With the average cut about 75 square feet, the town has only been recouping $30 in most cases. But, says Assistant Public Works Director Tiger Mann, with contract unit bid prices currently around $7 per square foot the repairs average $525.

"We're not looking to raise any money, we're just looking to stop the bleeding," Mann said, in pitching the fee increases at the board's meeting March 16.

Along with the contract unit bid price and an administration fee (a 1.15 multiplication factor across the board), a damage factor based on the age of the road will be used to calculate the amount due under the new fee structure. The fee will be multiplied by 1.5 for roads resurfaced within the last two years, 1.25 for roads resurfaced within the last two to five years, and 1.0 for roads that have not been resurfaced within the past five years. So a 75-square-foot cut would carry a fee of $905.63 for a new road, $754.69 for a two- to five-year-old road and $603.75 for a road more than five years old. 

"This would stave off people from cutting a road that's virtually brand new," Mann said.

The revenue from the fees will be put in a reserve account that will be used to pay for repairing cuts.

The fee increases should take effect May 1, once they have been noticed in the local paper for two weeks.


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