DELAWARE - On Wednesday the Delaware House of Representatives passed a bill regarding road construction and routine maintenance.
Amendment 1 to House Bill 297 was introduced by Rep. Bryan Shupe, R-Milford, on Wednesday and passed by the house the same day. The bill aims to amend Title 17 of the Delaware Code. Title 17 focuses on Highway construction and maintenance all across Delaware.
Shupe stated that he wrote House Bill 297 after a discussion with homeowners in his district who lived in communities where the roads were unfinished. Shupe learned that the bond posted so developers could not abandon projects was low and that they had an incentive to discard the projects.
Shupe told his colleagues about the problem for residents and taxpayers who paid to bring the roads up to the state standard.
In doing so, the goal is to increase the funding required to be secured by a developer to ensure obligations to construct and complete improvements and roads in new developments are met. The bill addresses an increasing frequency in which developers go out of business or become unable to complete work, citing increasing costs of materials and labor.
According to the bill, the amendment will:
- Clarify that the road or street is for public use.
- Increase the bond, certified check, letter of credit or other acceptable form of security to 150 percent and limits security to the costs associated with applying top coat to a road.
- Requires the security to be reassessed and reposted by the developer if top coat is not underway in seven years from the date the security is posted.
- Requires the bond to be released to the developer upon dedication for public use and satisfactory completion of road construction.
Amendment 1 of House Bill 297 has been laid on the table in the Senate. It must work through the Senate and be signed by Gov. John Carney before going into law.
