Homeowners Against Local Access Roads (LARs) in Eugene

We are homeowners who cannot accept that many of our county roads in the River Road and Santa Clara neighborhoods of Eugene, Oregon, are classified by Lane County as “local access roads” (LARs). LARs are public roads that are not maintained by the County —homeowners are responsible for any maintenance and repairs, and associated costs.

Homeowners shouldn’t have to pay for road maintenance, and many can’t afford to do so. They also shouldn’t have to bear liability for road conditions, they lack expertise in public road maintenance, and, in most cases, they don’t even realize they live on local access roads. LAR homeowners pay the same transportation taxes (which fund road maintenance) as their neighbors on County-maintained roads and expect the same government services. We are urging the Lane County Board of Commissioners to incorporate these LARs into the County road system, as should have been done decades ago.

Do you unknowingly live on a local access road?

The County has never informed homeowners that they live on LARs.

In Eugene, within the Urban Growth Boundary, LARs fall almost exclusively in the River Road and Santa Clara neighborhoods. Click on these maps of River Road and Santa Clara.

Pink roads on the map are LARs. Orange roads are county private roads, which homeowners also have to maintain. More on that below.

If you live elsewhere in Lane County and want to look at a map of your area, use the online mapping system linked to from the Resources page.

We estimate that there are at least 500 homes in River Road on local access roads, and 200+ in Santa Clara.

About Our Local Access Roads

LARs are typically gravel roads in rural areas that connect a small number of homes to a county road. In these cases, it seems reasonable for homeowners to maintain them.

However, in the River Road and Santa Clara neighborhoods of Eugene, LARs are mostly paved residential roads used by the public every day. There is no physical or functional distinction between most of them and County-maintained roads.

Just like County-maintained roads:

• Some LARs are wide, some narrow.
• Some LARs are through-streets, while others are dead ends.
• Some LARs have curbs and sidewalks, while others do not.

Kourt Drive (above left) and Rosewood Avenue (above right) are through streets off of River Road, three blocks away from each other. Kourt Drive is in the County road system. Taxpayers maintain this road. Rosewood Avenue is a local access road, so homeowners are responsible for it. Rosewood (LAR) feeds many side streets, Kourt does not – and yet the County deems it not in the public interest to maintain Rosewood.

 

Hawthorne Avenue west of Mayfair Lane is County maintained. Hawthorne Avenue east of Mayfair Lane is a local access road. The local access road portion is two feet wider than the County-maintained portion.

 

Alyndale Avenue (above left) is a County-maintained road in Santa Clara. Stark Street, just one block away, is an LAR that homeowners are responsible for.

Santa Rosa Street north of Howard Avenue is County-maintained. Santa Rosa Street south of Howard avenue is wider and has more improvements, and yet is a local access road.

I could go on and on with examples here.

Note that there are a few LARs within the UGB that are different – for example, narrow dirt roads with few houses on them. What should be done about these requires more discussion. But these cannot be used as a reason for denying maintenance to all of them.

There Must Be Something Different About Them – What Does The State Have to Say About This?

The designation, “local access road” lends an air of legitimacy to their disparate treatment – that there must be SOMETHING different about these roads that justifies the County not taking responsibility for them, right?

In fact, here is the definition laid out in state law (ORS 368.001): “Local access road” means a public road that is not a county road, state highway or federal road. 

That’s it – an LAR here is any road that Lane County fails to take on, whether it was or is in the public interest for the County to do so or not. 

State law (ORS 368.031(1)) then conveniently absolves the County of responsibility for these roads: “A county and its officers, employees or agents are not liable for failure to improve the local access road or keep it in repair.” 

I Kind of Hear You, But These Roads Do Primarily Provide Local Access to Adjacent Properties. Does That Justify Their Designation and Treatment?

Most of these local access roads in the Urban Growth Boundary provide access not to a couple of homes, but rather to up to dozens, and they look and function just like County-maintained residential roads.

Here’s the clincher though: County-maintained residential roads that look and function just like our LARs are assigned the “local” functional classification. Here’s the definition of a “Local” road, as per Lane County Code Chapter 15 (15.005.010):

Local Road or Street: a road intended solely for the purpose of providing access to adjacent properties. A local road may terminate in a cul-de-sac or be part of a larger network. 

So no, that our LARs are intended to provide, solely or primarily, access to adjacent properties is no reason to leave them out of the County road system and require homeowners to maintain them.

My LAR is a Dead-End, Not a Through Street. Does That Justify Its Designation and Treatment?

No. The County maintains at least 105 dead-end roads in River Road and Santa Clara. Most of these do not serve as many homes as LAR dead-ends such as Oak, Dalton and Maclay Drive LARs.

Why Did Lane County Not Take Responsibility for These LARs?

According to Lane County Public Works, in the mid-twentieth century, Lane County didn’t have set standards for determining which roads entered the County road system, so some roads were arbitrarily left out and remain so today. Today the County’s position is that they cannot afford to take on these roads, and that the City should do so. (More on this later.)

Do LAR Homeowners Pay Lower Taxes Since Government Doesn’t Maintain Their Roads?

No. LAR homeowners do not:

• Pay lower gas taxes or lower vehicle registration fees. (These fund road maintenance.)
• Pay lower property taxes.
• Receive any tax or fee rebates for the maintenance burden.

Instead their tax dollars help maintain other county and city roads in the neighborhood and elsewhere – while LAR homeowners remain responsible for their own.

Why Isn’t My Road in Worse Condition If It Has Always Been an LAR?

Public Works believes that maintenance was performed on LARs when timber taxes filled County coffers to overflowing. They speculate that the last time was the 1990s. This syncs up with a broader 1990s County effort in which “Lane County overlaid and rehabilitated many streets in the River Road and Santa Clara areas, including City and County streets, following the installation of the sewer lines in the 1990s.” (Source: ECONorthwest report, 2004.)

Additionally, an unconfirmed rumor suggests that Eugene maintenance employees may have patched potholes on LARs more recently, until the practice was stopped.

Lane County Public Works confirmed that unless the Lane County Board of Commissioners takes action, LARs will receive no maintenance moving forward. (Note: Street sweeping and leaf pickup are not considered road maintenance.)

Can We Restrict Access to Reduce Wear and Tear?

No. LARs are public roads. Homeowners cannot limit access to them.

If a Development is Built in the Neighborhood that Sends More Traffic onto My LAR, Do Owners in That New Development Have to Contribute to Maintaining My Road?

No. Responsibility for the local access road is entirely borne by owners whose property is adjacent to it.

Oakleigh Lane is a local access road off of River Road that has approximately 19 homes. A 29-unit condo development was built at the far end of it. The city annexed that portion of Oakleigh where the development entrance is, so condo owners do not technically live on the LAR. Traffic down the LAR to River Road has more than doubled, and yet it is the 19 original owners who bear responsibility for the wear and tear. If the road deteriorates to where traffic can’t get through or it is otherwise a serious hazard, the County can force LAR homeowners to fix it by imposing assessments on them and liens on those who don’t pay.

I’ve Never Heard of LARs and I’ve Lived Here for Decades. How Do I Know That This Information Is True?

The maps above are from the Lane County online mapping system. Lane County Public Works confirms their accuracy. (Very recent changes may not be reflected.) In multiple conversations with Lane County Public Works, they have:

• Confirmed homeowners are responsible for LAR maintenance.
• Provided historical context on why these roads remain LARs.
• Acknowledged that homeowners are often unaware of their road’s status—until they seek help for a serious issue.

Nevertheless, it appears that the County has never informed homeowners that they live on LARs. We have spoken to homeowners that have been here for 50+ years, and had no idea.

County Private Roads Are Also a Problem.

The orange roads in the maps above are county (rather than city) private roads, which homeowners are also responsible for maintaining. Many of these:

• Are paved residential roads that look like our LARs and County-maintained roads.
• Are used by the general public.
• Are sometimes through-streets essential for neighborhood traffic flow.

We don’t understand the history of or legal issues surrounding these private roads, but in general we do not believe homeowners should have to be responsible for roads used by the general public. 

What Should Be Done?

We are lobbying the Lane County Board of Commissioners to pass an ordinance folding residential LARs within the urban growth boundary into the County road system.

This ordinance must specify that these LARs will be accepted without being brought up to current standards for new roads, since they should have been accepted decades ago and most look just like roads that were accepted back then (or better).

The County does have serious budget issues. We acknowledge this, and therefore we accept that the ordinance may not include an immediate budget increase.

The ordinance would ensure that:

• These roads have an equal opportunity to receive future maintenance dollars.
• Homeowners would no longer be subject to potential liability for road conditions.
• Property values would not be affected by homeowners’ maintenance burden.

Given limited County funds, adding these roads to the County road system may push back maintenance on some other County roads—but LARs have had their maintenance unjustifiably delayed for decades.

Could and Should the City of Eugene Take Over These Roads?

Whether you agree with it or not, the long term plan for this area includes the City annexing and taking on maintenance responsibility for all roads within the Urban Growth Boundary. One potential solution to this LAR issue then would be for the City of Eugene to annex these roads and assume maintenance responsibility. (This is not the same as private property annexation and would not increase property taxes.) However:

• The city lacks funding.
• The city is reluctant to take on unimproved roads, and presumably more so, neglected ones.
• Annexation is controversial.
• The annexation process will take many years. Currently about 17% of homes on LARs in River Road have annexed.

Our roads can’t wait – we believe Lane County must act now. The City and County can then, in consultation with the community, determine if/how/when responsibility for any and all County roads is transferred.

If these LARs are not maintained now, before they fall apart, Public Works has made clear that repair costs for them will quickly escalate to exorbitant levels, reaching over $1 million/mile. If the County does nothing and lets the roads degrade while waiting for annexation, it will then be impossibly cost-prohibitive for the City to take them on. The County created this problem, and has the authority and responsibility to accept and maintain these roads and deliver them in good health to the City.

Why Not Just Push for One-Time Maintenance for LARs?

Most LARs have gone for multiple decades without preventive maintenance. While chip sealing or similar repairs would help (except those few roads beyond saving), simply securing one-time maintenance would not solve the core issue.

We cannot allow the Board of Commissioners to use temporary fixes as an excuse to delay real action. These roads must be fully integrated into the County road system and treated equitably along with other public roads. If the County has funding for one-time maintenance, that money should be spent after passing an ordinance to reclassify LARs as County-maintained roads, ensuring a long-term solution rather than a short-term patch.

In addition, providing one time maintenance does not relieve homeowners of the potential liability burden or property values hit.

What Can I Do?

We need as many residents as possible to speak out and take action.

Click here to learn how to speak out!

Contact us with ideas and questions.