On September 22, the Town of Catskill Planning Board approved a three-lot subdivision on Ledgemoor Drive. The condition attached to the approval says a lot about buying rural property in Catskill. A neighbor had asked that the new lots be required to join the road maintenance agreement the existing owners already share. Chairwoman Teresa Golden said town code does not allow the board to do that. The approval instead required a new road maintenance agreement for the three new lots, to be approved by the Town Attorney and filed with the County before the maps could be signed.
Once the new agreement is filed, one road will be covered by two agreements for two groups of owners. A buyer looking at a house there will see one gravel lane, while the obligation to maintain it will depend on which agreement the lot falls under. That comes from the lot's paperwork, and you can't tell it from the road.
That pattern runs through almost every private-road case the Town Planning Board heard this fall. In the Town of Catskill, a road's upkeep depends on the agreements recorded against it, not on the road itself.
One road, two sets of obligations
The history explains the split. At the August 25 public hearing on the Ledgemoor subdivision, an audience member said the Ledgemoor Mountain Club has existed since 1909, that every property owner there has a road maintenance agreement, and that owners pay dues. The applicant's representative called Ledgemoor "an ancient road and a private road," and the chairwoman said its pre-existing maintenance agreement is grandfathered.
According to the August 25 minutes, neighbors at that hearing focused on practical matters. One said parts of the road had washed out over the culverts and that "if the culverts are washed out, no one can get out." Another said the road had been about 9 feet wide and was now 10 because trees were cut along one side. The board's answer, recorded in the September 22 minutes, was to require a second agreement, which the applicant's representative said was being drafted. The existing agreement with current neighbors "will not be affected, as the board cannot impose such a change," and a new one will cover maintenance of that portion of the road. Golden also said the other conditions on the approval were standard. The road maintenance agreement was the exception.
The subdivision covers a parcel of about 50 acres, and Lots 1 and 2 are each 10.325 acres. Lots that size are what draw second-home buyers to the town. For anyone buying one, the cost of keeping the road open will be set by a document the board required this fall.
What the town code requires for each kind of access
The board was working under Chapter 140 of the Town Code, the subdivision law, which was amended in its entirety on June 3, 2025 by Local Law No. 4-2025. The code sets different rules depending on how a lot reaches the road, and most of them tie back to a maintenance agreement or something that does the same job.
| Access type | What the code allows | Maintenance requirement |
|---|---|---|
| Shared driveway | Up to three homes; at least 20 feet wide with a 16-foot all-weather surface for passenger and emergency vehicles | A road maintenance agreement is required |
| Rear lot reached by right-of-way | Up to three lots; one single-family home per lot; no further subdivision | A recorded right-of-way subject to a maintenance agreement |
| Flag lot | Access at least 24 feet wide; 16-foot all-weather drive; no further subdivision; adjoining flag lots prohibited | The code's flag-lot section sets access and subdivision limits only |
| Private street | Serves four to 30 lots; never offered for dedication to the Town | A homeowners association for perpetual care, or an equivalent recorded agreement if the board waives the HOA |
Section 140-18C(12) says plainly that "a road maintenance agreement shall be required for a shared driveway," and that a shared driveway "shall be maintained free of all obstructions, such as trees, brush, posts, gates, etc." The three-home cap explains why the Mossy Hill Road case went the way it did. That application proposed an existing house plus three new ones at 140 Mossy Hill Road, served by a shared driveway. In September, the applicant's engineer noted that the limit for sharing a driveway is three. The chairwoman said a right-of-way originally proposed to reach a landlocked parcel to the south did not comply with town code, and that future lot owners should be told it had been proposed and dropped.
The board's list of open items on that application shows what a buyer would want to see resolved in the file:
- Approval from the fire department
- Septic design
- A basic stormwater pollution prevention plan
- Driveway cross sections
- A road maintenance agreement
- Curb cut approval from the town Highway Superintendent
- A decision on who owns a 0.024-acre strip shown as part of a neighboring parcel on a Kaaterskill Associates survey
The Town maintains a road only after formally accepting it
This rule is why the agreements carry so much weight. The Town's road specifications in Chapter 138, Appendix A say a road is not accepted as a town road, or for maintenance with Town funds, until it goes through the specified process and meets the standards. Pre-existing private roads with residences are exempt from those construction specifications, but new construction must have emergency vehicle access before a certificate of occupancy is issued.
On an old private road, then, the Town is not the fallback. The recorded agreement is the main mechanism for upkeep, and on a road like Ledgemoor that will mean more than one agreement.
Emergency access is where new construction runs into the old roads. At the August hearing on Ledgemoor, board member Bill DeLuca said a permit could not be issued without an update to the road for emergency access. The chairwoman said the applicant would need to pay to widen it, with the Code Office and the Fire Department making the call. On Mossy Hill Road, the engineer described grades of 15 percent over two stretches of the proposed drive. The Town Engineer asked for a turning analysis for a ladder truck, and the applicant's engineer argued that this is usually not necessary for single-family homes.
Creek Road brought out a related issue. A four-lot subdivision there, on a former mine site with two lots bordering the Kaaterskill Creek, uses a private road that runs more than 800 feet, so it needed a waiver and a public hearing. A neighbor asked about the existing maintenance agreement. The applicant said Lots B and C are part of the right-of-way, but nothing on record shows they are part of the road maintenance agreement. The right-of-way is 50 feet wide, while the road itself is 20. The application was first received in July 2024 and was back on the Planning Board's October 27 agenda.
The lender reads the agreement too
For a buyer using a mortgage, the recorded agreement also matters to the loan. Each loan program treats private roads differently:
- Fannie Mae, in its Selling Guide published November 4, 2026, requires "an adequate, legally enforceable agreement or covenant for maintenance of the street" for a property on a privately owned and maintained street. The document should be recorded and should cover each party's share of repair costs, remedies if a party defaults, and a term that "in most cases should be perpetual and binding on any future owners." Without a qualifying agreement or a state statute, the lender can still sell the loan but must indemnify Fannie Mae against losses tied to the street's condition or to access.
- FHA, under HUD Handbook 4000.1 as updated November 26, 2025, requires private streets and shared driveways to be protected by permanent recorded easements, an ownership interest, or HOA ownership and maintenance, and does not require a joint maintenance agreement. Appraisers are asked whether one exists and comment on the road's condition.
- VA, in Circular 26-22-17, keeps the requirement for a recorded permanent easement or right-of-way to a public road but says an HOA or joint maintenance agreement is no longer required.
- Freddie Mac Section 4702.4 permits recorded mutual driveway easements when present and future owners have perpetual use and joint maintenance duties.
On Ledgemoor, the Fannie Mae standard and the board's condition point the same way. The approval requires the new agreement to be approved by the Town Attorney and filed with the County before the maps are signed. What each agreement says about cost shares and defaults is the part a buyer and their lender will read closely.
This is general information, not legal or financial advice. Confirm how these rules apply to a specific property with a real estate attorney and your lender.
What the fall minutes say to pull before you commit
The fall hearings point to the documents worth requesting early on any private-road property in the town:
- The recorded maintenance agreement, and which one applies. On a road like Ledgemoor, owners can belong to different agreements depending on when their lot was created.
- The survey alongside the tax map. At the September meeting, Town Attorney Ted Hilscher noted that the survey puts Old Ledgemoor Drive entirely within Lot 2 while county GIS data does not, and asked for a note on the plat stating that the survey is accurate and the tax map is not.
- Plat notes on further subdivision. Lots reached only by a right-of-way, and all flag lots, cannot be subdivided again under Chapter 140. The five-acre Creek Road lots, by contrast, could be divided further, according to the chairwoman.
- The neighboring uses. On Creek Road, a resident asked that anyone buying know about a gravel bank that has been there for more than 50 years. The chairwoman answered that this "would fall under the real estate agent's purview and is not an issue for the Planning Board."
FAQ
Does the Town of Catskill plow or repair private roads? Chapter 138, Appendix A says a road is not maintained with Town funds until the Town formally accepts it.
Can new lots be required to join an existing road agreement? On Ledgemoor Drive, the Planning Board said town code does not let it require that, so it required a separate agreement for the new lots.
How many homes can share a driveway? Up to three under § 140-18C(12) of the Town Code, and a road maintenance agreement is required.
If you're weighing a rural Catskill property on a private road or a shared drive, CENTURY 21 New West Properties can help you get the recorded agreement, survey and plat notes in hand early, before they affect your price or your loan. If you own on one of these roads and are thinking of selling, ask about a Free Property Valuation that accounts for the road your buyers will drive.
