Friendly Reminder of DOT Right-of-Way

Post date: Apr 19, 2012 6:20:47 PM

While we would all like to believe we have full right-of-use privileges for our entire yards, this is legally not the case when the yard borders a public road. The NC Department of Transportation has legal rights for what is known as the "right-of-way" - basically the land edging all public roads. While we as individual landowners own the property up to the edge of the road, the right-of-way portion of that property has very specific restrictions, covered under NC law.

As stated in the NC General Statutes136-93, "...no tree or shrub in or on any State road or State highway shall be planted, trimmed, or removed, and no obstruction placed thereon, without a written permit as hereinbefore provided for, and then only in accordance with the regulations of said Department of Transportation or its duly authorized officers or employees and then only in accordance with the regulations of said Department of Transportation or its duly authorized officers or employees; and the work shall be under the supervision and to the satisfaction of the Department of Transportation or its officers or employees...."

The plats that we all signed upon purchase of our lots also noted a DOT restriction.

As part of our investigation into what steps & repairs are necessary for the DOT to accept our roads, the DOT has highlighted that several houses in our community are in violation of this state statute and removal of trees, large bushes, rocks, and posts will be required at the owner's expense before the DOT will consider taking over our roads. Items noted to be in violation will be communicated by our HOA to individually affected lot owners with remediation specifics and a remediation timeline. Our roads, by law, must be taken over by the DOT so adhering to this statute is mandatory. The HOA has the legal responsibility to ensure the roads are taken over by the DOT. These right-of-way rules are not "HOA rules" but are instead NC law for public roads and will need to be followed in order for the roads to be taken over.

Several examples of violations of the right-of-way rules are:

- Any plantings between the road & the ditch. While small bushes are technically not allowed, the DOT has verbally noted that their main concerns are trees and large bushes/shrubs.

- Wooden/plastic posts on edge of yard (for example, the wooden posts along our development entrance will need to be removed)

- Decorative rocks near mailboxes or along edge of road

The right-of-way for all roads in our subdivision is 50' (which includes the width of the road). A general rule of thumb is to measure approximately 25' from the center-line of the road, and in cul-de-sacs approximately 10' from the road edge. The right-of-ways are confirmed by land surveyors, however if you are considering doing any planting, to be safe, it should be done on the far side of the ditch, not between the ditch and the road. The ditches are typically built at the edge of the right-of-way.

Other items of consideration include:

- Irrigation systems - Technically, irrigation systems cannot be placed on the right-of-way, however at this time the DOT will not be requiring anyone to move what is already in place. With that said, the DOT can't guarantee that already-installed irrigation systems on the right-of-way won't be damaged by work needed on the right-of-way, or snowplowing (once the DOT takes over the roads.) If you have placed any portion of your irrigation system on the right-of-way, it can be damaged by the DOT and it will be your responsibility. For example, if you have an irrigation system at the edge of your yard and the DOT requires grading along the edge of the road, your system will likely get damaged. As part of the DOT road takeover, if anyone's irrigation system will be affected by the required work, our HOA will notify you ahead of time to so you can consider moving your sprinkler heads to avoid any possible damage.

- Decorative stacked stone around drainage pipes - Please ensure that whatever you design/install does not exceed 12" above pavement grade. Technically the DOT could require this sort of thing to be removed, but they are allowing our existing ones since they are not over 12" high. In some other developments, several homeowners have been required to remove theirs.