The Overton County Planning Commission is considering adding a surety bond for newly constructed subdivision roads to the county’s regulations.
Overton County Planner Tommy Lee said if passed, developers would be required to have a road surety bond for at least one year after being adopted by the county. Lee said the bond would essentially act as a warranty to protect the county.
“If something happens within the first year after the county takes it over, the developer will either pay to have the road fixed, or the county could use the surety bond to fix the road,” Lee said.
Lee said the proposed amendment came at the request of County Road Superintendent Tim Kennedy. Lee said a surety bond will cover issues that can arise, like road deterioration.
“If the county adopts a road and there are five new houses being built on that road, and concrete trucks come in and tear the road all to pieces, then we have something on file that we can use to fix those roads,” Lee said.
Lee said he is not sure if requiring a surety bond will increase the cost for developers or if that extra cost would be passed on to homebuyers. Lee said a surety bond is not uncommon for planning commissions.
“Typically, planning commissions will do one of two things,” Lee said. “They either won’t adopt a road until the majority of the subdivision is built out, or they will go ahead and adopt the road once road construction is finished and then have a warranty or surety bond on hand.”
The planning commission held a public hearing earlier this month, and Lee said no one in attendance spoke against the proposal.
The planning commission will take action on the proposed change on Monday, February 2, starting at 5pm at the Millard Oakley Overton County Services Building.