Your apron sits in the road, so ask who owns the road

Permits sound like paperwork, but they decide who can legally dig, who answers for the work and what happens if the job goes wrong. This guide shows how to find your road owner, what Onondaga County asks for on a county road, and what to do when your street belongs to somebody else.

Your driveway is yours from the garage to the edge of the road right of way. The apron is the last stretch, where the drive crosses that edge and meets the pavement. Part of it sits inside land the road owner controls.

That is why a quick patch can turn into a permit question. The owner of the road is one of five: a city, a town, a village, the county or the state. Each has its own rules and its own office.

Your first job is simple. Find out which one owns your street, and do it before you compare quotes. A quote written without that answer is a guess about paperwork.

You do not need a survey for this. You need one phone call and a street name.

• Look at the street sign and any route number on it. County and state routes often carry numbers.
• Call your village clerk or town highway office and ask who owns your street.
• In the City of Syracuse, ask the city, because city streets are the city's.
• If they say county, ask for the Onondaga County Department of Transportation and request the permit steps in writing.

Ask the same question of any contractor who quotes the apron. A good answer names the road owner and says who will apply for the permit. If the answer is fuzzy, keep shopping.

Roads in Onondaga County are split between owners, and the split is large. The state's 2017 highway mileage report puts 3,144.0 miles of public highway in the county. The county owns about 790 of those miles, the state about 413, and the city, towns and villages own most of the rest.

What that means for you is local. Two houses a mile apart can sit on streets with different owners, and so face different offices. Do not borrow your neighbor's answer. Check your own street.

Treat that as a reason to ask, and call the office before you book anyone.

Changing an existing driveway on a county road, say by widening or repaving it, needs a county permit called Work in the Right of Way. The applicant sends a sketch or site plan that places the work against the road's center line.

The county also asks the applicant for an insurance policy that names Onondaga County and for a workers compensation policy. Fees vary and are set by the department, and a deposit comes back after the work is inspected.

So before you sign, ask your contractor three things: will you apply for the permit, do you hold the policies the county asks for, and what is the date the permit will be in hand. Put the answers in the contract. If the contractor wants you to apply and arrange insurance yourself, that is worth knowing now.

New driveways are a different permit. The county requires an Access Permit for any new driveway on a county road. That covers a new drive, not the repair of one you already have.

Highway Law section 136 bars anyone from building or improving a driveway entrance on a county road right of way unless a work permit is issued. The fine runs from $25 to $1,000 for every day the violation lasts.

The county's own policy adds the upkeep side. Where your drive meets a county highway, you keep it up, and that includes the last few feet out to the shoulder or curb.

Put those together and your position is clear. The apron is yours to keep up, and it is also not yours to dig up unpermitted. Ask for the permit in the written scope, and do not let work start before it exists.

The county also refuses to allow roadside ditches to be piped and covered. If your quote includes piping the roadside ditch and pouring over it, ask the road owner in writing whether that is allowed on your street.

The county permit applies to county roads. If your street belongs to the City of Syracuse, a town or a village, the permit, the form and the fee come from that owner instead. Do not assume the county's steps carry over.

Call the owner's office, describe the work in one sentence, such as replacing a cracked apron the same width, and ask whether a permit is needed. Ask what it costs and how long it takes. Note the answer, the date and who gave it.

Live in the city itself? One more point applies. The public sidewalk beside your apron is repaired by the city, and that is separate from the apron. Our guide on public sidewalks explains where that line falls.

A permit controls what you may do, and it does not make the concrete last. A permitted apron poured in the wrong month, or with the wrong mix, can still scale in its first winter.

So ask for two things in the same paper: the permit, and the concrete plan. The plan should name air-entrained concrete, the planned pour month and how the slab will be protected through its first winter. The apron sits where plow spray and tire slush meet it, so those answers matter here.

Settle the permit first, because it can set your date. Then match the pour month to the weather, not the other way around.

1. Which owner holds my street: city, town, village, county or state?
2. Is a permit needed for replacing or repairing this apron?
3. Who applies for it, and who holds the insurance the owner asks for?
4. What date will the permit be in hand, and is it written in the contract?
5. What mix, pour month and protection plan does the scope name?

We do not apply for permits, and we are not the contractor. We can help you work out which office to ask and what to put in writing, then introduce you to an independent local contractor to quote the apron. Tell us your street and what you see.