Thumbnail photo: Paul Place near Charm Lane and Old Mill Road was selected for repairs as part of an effort to ensure emergency vehicles have access to public roads that are not on the county-maintained road system.| Photo courtesy of Del Norte County Del Norte County supervisors agreed to commit about $20,000 from the general fund to repair a ditch and grade Paul Place. But they rejected a proposal to spend an additional $26,000 to pave the first 250 feet of Paul Place, adding it to the county’s network of maintained roads, despite County Engineer Jon Olson arguing that vehicles were tracking mud onto nearby Charm Lane and Old Mill Road. There’s also water puddling up onto Old Mill Road, which is damaging the asphalt, Olson said. District 2 Supervisor Valerie Starkey said Olson’s argument could be made for Napa or Lake streets, which impact Washington Boulevard. “My concern is if we do this road, we’re setting a precedent,” she said. “And I know there are plenty of roads out there that would want us to do the same.” Del Norte County has set aside about $50,000 from its general fund each year to repair roads that it typically does not maintain. According to Starkey, the Board of Supervisors started the practice at the request of former District 5 representative Bob Berkowitz who died in 2022. Noting that District 5 “notoriously has very bad roads,” Starkey said that Olson brought a list of recommendations to the Board and asked for help setting parameters on where to allocate that $50,000. In addition to vehicles tracking mud from Paul Place to Charm Lane and Old Mill Road, the street has a two major potholes, Olson said. He told supervisors that the Engineering & Survey Division recommended spending the entire $50,000 allocation to improve the grading, gravel and ditch and to pave the first 250 feet. “That would make (Paul Place) eligible to adopt into the county-maintained road system and it would be perpetually maintained,” Olson said. Maintaining 250 feet of paved road would cost about $200 annually, the county engineer told supervisors. It would need to be repaved in about 50 years. Olson drew a parallel between Paul Place and Darby Street, one of the first non-maintained public roads the county made repairs to in 2024. That was a situation that involved mud tracking as well, though Darby isn’t immediately adjacent to a county-maintained road, Olson said. Dean Wilson, District 5’s current supervisor, agreed with Starkey that bringing Paul Place up to “county road code” was unnecessary unless it’s a thoroughfare to a major artery rather than a dead end road. Their District 1 colleague Darrin Short said he appreciated Starkey’s point of view, but argued that making road improvements is something the public wants. “I wonder if we should be paralyzed by those thoughts, that somebody’s going to complain that I didn’t get my road first versus another road,” he said. “I agree that it is a dead-end road, but I believe we should be making improvements like this and paving it. I think that was the intent of that $50,000, not just grading the gravel roads, but doing some significant improvements.” Starkey responded by saying that adding more gravel and re-grading the road would make it passable for emergency vehicles, but it’s on the homeowners to “drive the bus all the way to the finish line.” She also outlined the county’s policy concerning repairs to non-maintained county roads, which includes gathering input from emergency responders on where the priorities should lie. Board Chairman Joey Borges, who represents District 4, echoed Starkey’s sentiment by going back to Darby Street. The repairs the Road Department made are beautiful, he said, but he noticed a small pothole getting started. “It’s just a little guy, which turns into a huge pothole,” he said. “But I want to make sure that everyone knows that after the county leaves there this is on the property owner’s responsibility. We’re just trying to get you a leg up and get you accessible.”