For several years now the road maintenance has not had anyone managing it. According to Court Records, there is a Road Maintenance agreement on file for property owners. This being the case all are legally responsible to assist with the upkeep and care for the road.
To keep it fair and just for all homeowners; we are asking all to contribute their thoughts on the approach to take in order to get our road up to better standards.
The following are some preliminary ideas. If you have further ideas please feel free to post them on this blog!
1. Start a Road Maintenance Fund. This fund would be used to fix any portion of Patton Hill Road that would need it. The funds would be put in a bank account under this Fund. Two people from different homes would administer and take care of expenses. The agreed amount that homeowners would contribute could be made in one lump sum for the year or if budget is tight (as is for many) we could offer monthly payments.
2. To ensure a reasonable price to repair road at least two quotes will be requested before choosing a vendor.
3. Once funds accumulate the remainder or accumulated funds could go towards paving, if homeowners are in agreement with this.
4. Another option is to investigate to see if the state will take it over if homeowners are in agreement with this.
5. Additional option would be to look into tar and chip road. This is a more cost effective alternative to paving and keeps look of a "country road".
ARTICLE WRITER
Dear Neighbors,
ReplyDeleteI as well have been thinking about this issue this past year and had written a letter back in Oct. but had never sent it out because I didn't know how to go about it. But, thanks to Dolly, the issue is being addressed.
My original letter contained some of the following...
I write in regard to an issue that is easily ignored due to the unorganized nature of our community. I personally prefer the unorganized aspect of our community and dislike home owner associations and prefer for now for our road not to be taken by the state. However, it can not be denied that we are a community since we all share a common road to access our homes. This road is all of our responsibility and we all should have been aware of this fact when living here. It must be maintained. It is my hope that we can all come to a common, logical and fair agreement. In this process it is my concern, given we are not an organized and governed community, that we will not be able to come to a common agreement. I do ask however that everyone can humbly accept their responsibility and ownership of our road. I understand that everyone has been impacted by the current economy, I being included, but lets please still consider the issue.
Some issues to consider that I can already think of are...
1. future home construction wear and tear (is there potential for more homes? If so, can we hold these homeowners accountable for the wear and tear they may contribute to?)
2. garbage trucks and other large trucks accessing our road which contribute to damage
3. Pavement vs. gravel
4. Pavement on hills and problematic sections
5. Breaking down the road responsibility in sections (i.e. everyone is responsible for the main flat area but only those affected are responsible for other areas)
6. Making effective plans for water drainage
These are some ideas. My OPINION is the following
-I think we should scrape the entire flat section of road and make sure it is properly graded and top with gravel. I have no problem with speed bumps for speed control and dust, we could add more for all I care out of respect for those living on the front section of road. However, I would like to see the speed bumps decrease in size. I live were the hill begins. This portion is in rough shape. I personally feel that those affected (currently 7 households) should be responsible for this, not the entire community. In the same way, the paved section that goes up the hill I believe should be the responsibility of those who use it. Therefore the only portion of road everyone should be responsible for is the bottom flat portion. In regard to where I live (298), I think we should scrape and pave (tar and chip) the problematic portions. In addition, all drainage should have a solution. Now of course my opinion is dependent of the financial cost in the end. If too expensive to pave, I certainly vote for scraping, grading, and gravel. In addition, since living here a year I have studied my own properties drainage. I am also trying to effectively solve my water shed and I hope others, if you are having problems, can assess yours.
Financially, I agree with Dolly, there should be two people for accountability governing our road (these should be two people who also assume they will be long term residents and there should be a vote in place). I do not think we will be able to financially pave for a very long time. I think we should start small, maintain what we have, fix trouble spots, and try to make this as small a financial burden as possible for now. At least we are beginning to plan for the future.
Thanks for reading,
Mike Warnock
298 Patton Hill Rd.
Thank you for starting this process.
ReplyDeleteIt is evident that we need to do something about the condition of the road. The recent snow storms have left deep ruts in our section of the road and I am concerned about the drainage situation when we get the spring/ summer rains. We have a four wheel drive car and do not have to worry about access, but I have watched as some two wheel drive cars have dug out holes tring to make it through the snow. The rainwater/mud may be just as challenging. It is obvious that there is currently a drainage problem if you look at the mailbox area.
I would not like to have it paved, especially by the county. They will take part of our small front yard if it is made into two lanes- which I believe is the norm. I do like the country feel of the road and think that we have to make it cost effective; therefore, I like the tar and chip option.
Due to the speeding problem especially at the beginning of the road, where we live, I would like to explore the option of putting in speed bumps. It makes a difference to us because our open windows are so close to the road; maybe that could be an option for certain people to choose to pay extra for.
We have spent a lot of money putting out layers of gravel to help cut down on the amount of dust that has become a problem in the summer, especially since the construction traffic has increased. This gravel was quickly pushed into the dirt due to the extra weight of the vehicals and our "speed bumps" disappeared immediately. This is a concern of ours due to the potential plots to be developed beyond our house. We only use 150 yards of the road, but would like to do what we can to preserve it.
Please put out another flier about this blog, so that, we may get others opinions.
Thank you, Shannon and Chris Coney- 247 Patton Hill Road