VALPARAISO | Private roads have been a frequent topic of discussion and source of problems for the city for many years, so a policy is being developed to virtually eliminate them in the future.

"We've never addressed them with a defined policy or procedure," city Engineering Director David Pilz said. "We do it on a case-by-case basis, and it can depend on which way the wind blows. We've got a couple of developments pending, and we thought it would be a good time to develop a policy so that we would be more consistent."

The draft of the policy was presented to the city's Board of Public Works and Safety last week and could be up for approval at the board's next meeting. As drafted, private roads would be prohibited except to connect parking areas in commercial, industrial or multifamily developments or in the case of unique situations.

"In general, everybody says they lead to more headaches than we need or want," Pilz said. "The kicker is: We don't want to stifle growth, especially commercial growth. I don't think anybody wants to do any more private roads in residential areas, but there are some in commercial projects."

Commercial developments like Valparaiso Walk or Valparaiso Marketplace and apartment complexes like Compass Point and The Masters have what are essentially streets connecting buildings and parking areas. They will be required to have cross easements and maintenance agreements in place if more than one owner is involved, the policy states.

A "unique situation" might be where "the character of the land or the surrounding development is such that a public way cannot be provided," policy states. The developer will be required to get board of works approval to have private streets, and the streets will have to be built to city construction standards.

The development also must have adequate provisions for things like traffic and parking enforcement, removal of unlicensed vehicles, maintenance, snow removal and street sweeping. The city will not provide those services or trash pickup.

"I got a lot of input from the council and the staff, and we will discuss it in committee meetings," Pilz said. "We've got to spell out when it does apply and then leave room for the board of works to grant variances is they need to."