Ward 4 councilor Mary O’Connell
WESTFIELD – Ward 4 Councilor Mary O’Connell presented a motion co-signed by Councilors Mary Ann Babinski, William Onyski, John J. Beltrandi, III and Council president Brent B. Bean, II to submit a resolution to the Senate and House of Representatives for Home Rule Petition to authorize the City of Westfield to categorize all current private ways as public streets.
O’Connell said the purpose of the petition is to provide an alternative to the system currently in place to transfer private ways to public ways.
“Even if all this is accomplished, the city will still have to have a public hearing on each street and proceed with a layout,” O’Connell said. She said the resolution also doesn’t automatically obligate the city for maintenance of all the roads. She asked to move the matter to the Legislative & Ordinance Committee.
The resolution further states that acceptance as a public way will only become final after the layout has been approved by the City Council following a public hearing, and the order of the layout has been filed by the city clerk, and the city already holds land or easements for the purposes of the public way.
At-Large Councilor David Flaherty thanked O’Connell and all the other councilors for bringing the resolution forward.
“It’s a way to fast track putting our private ways on the public list,” Flaherty said. He said more public roads could generate more Chapter 90 funds from the state.
Onyski said there are currently 72 streets in Ward 6 that are private ways. “We are trying to do what we can to speed up the process,” he said.
At-large Councilor Dan Allie suggested that if it would speed up the process, why not make this a unanimous effort by the City Council.
“This is not a panacea. It’s not perfect,” Ward 2 Councilor Ralph J. Figy said. “Once we accept these as legal ways, they are our responsibility,” he added.
Ward 5 Councilor Robert A. Paul, Sr. gave the example of a cul-de-sac with 22 homes on it. He said the city would have to contact all of the deed owners to make the change, which he referred to as a “nightmare.”
Ward 3 Councilor Andrew K. Surprise said he agreed with FIgy. “I don’t know if we want every street in the city. I think we want to curate this list,” Surprise said.
O’Connell said that the city is currently plowing these streets. “While this is in L&O, if you see clearly a street that should not be a public way, let us know,” she asked.
Bean said that the City Council has asked the Law Department in the past to make a plan for public ways. “It really tied our hands. It didn’t allow for a lot of infilling on developments,” Bean said. He also said this won’t allow for a rapid response, but the positives of the resolution outweigh the negatives.
The resolution was sent to the L&O Committee.
