I am writing this letter on behalf of some of our county back
roads. I believe many people will agree with me, especially the
ones who live in the country. We need our country back roads to be
maintained. They are overdue for that. We would like to see them in
the old fashioned way. Just keep them like back country roads.
Dear Editor,
I am writing this letter on behalf of some of our county back roads. I believe many people will agree with me, especially the ones who live in the country. We need our country back roads to be maintained. They are overdue for that. We would like to see them in the old fashioned way. Just keep them like back country roads.
I feel our country roads don’t need to be widened for a 100 years due to lack of water and because they are away from the city. You might see three, four or five houses here or there but never any traffic jam. I attended the planning commission meeting on Oct. 19 and learned that the county had adopted an ordinance that said if you build a house you must donate 42 feet of your land. You measure from the middle of the road. If the neighbor across the road tried to build a house it would make the easement 84 feet – enough to build a four-lane highway. They claim they will use it in the future. Conclusion: this easement will be here for a hundred years raising weeds and creating fire hazards. The county doesn’t take care of what they have now. Why add more?
As a rancher and a county roads worker for many years, I find this stupid and nonsense. The ordinance also calls to widen the road two feet plus the shoulder for safety purposes. In my opinion, this will be nothing but dangerous, a trap. At night, if you are not aware of the distance, you might take advantage of the wide spot not knowing where it will end before you know you will be driving into the mud or a ditch – chances to cause an accident and another lawsuit for the county. Whoever came out with this plan should be designing cartoons. Probably they wouldn’t be good at that. In my opinion, our county back roads must be exempt of this ordinance. Just lately I drove along the hills from Gilroy to Morgan Hill on New Avenue where you see dozens of million dollar homes. Each one has nice architect driveways, no county road improvements. They choose to live there because they like things the way they are. They don’t like racetracks. To me this is just disfiguring Mother Nature. We have three small developments by our home with no improvements and they fit just fine.
This deformed idea is just to make people spend money for no reason. I hope the Farm Bureau takes this seriously and the new leaders stop these annoyances, and many more of the rules that have been around for so long. This county, in my opinion, is overdue for new leaders who will give direction to the employees and not take direction from them. I am for term limits when they stay too long they act like they own it. Remember, it is your future. At the age of 76, I am sure it is not mine. If you read this and agree keep a copy and read it a few times so you don’t forget.
Like always this is only my opinion.
Amadeu Lima, Hollister
