“Paper Streets” is the term used to describe streets that have been dedicated (the government has the legal right to build a road on your land) but not yet constructed. They exist only on paper. Actually, in this day of fast digital access to public information, they also exist on many digital maps, which leads to confusion when mapping programs route cars on roads that don’t exist.

I’ve been told numerous times on the phone and in emails that once I sign the road dedication I can’t block public access to the dedicated road, but I just realized that I have never actually seen the ordinance making this law. So I just sent email to Denise Anderson at the San Bernardino Department of Public Works asking for a copy.

I’ve found that some states do allow the property owner to temporarily block access until they are ready to build. It seems that they do this by recording the dedication (so there is no doubt that it exists) but not officially accepting it. They can put off accepting it for years, but have to accept it before they can build the road. Once accepted they are responsible for the land and any road built on it.

Here are a couple of interesting articles about this topic:

http://www.njslom.org/mag1107_article_pg38.html

http://sf.streetsblog.org/2009/09/24/a-vision-for-transforming-san-franciscos-unaccepted-streets/

My goal now is to get San Bernardino County to agree to the same arrangement.