My street won't get paved

[jeepman3071]

So I live in a neighborhood that is probably about 3 years old. It is a fairly curvy road with a few hills, and some of the corners make it difficult to see oncoming traffic. When we first moved in 2 years ago, only about half the lots were sold.

The guy that is building the lots owns the road for the most part. When we moved in, only 1 layer of pavement was on the road. There are sewer drains every 150 feet or so, and they stick up above the road. There has been pavement piled around them, so they are not as severe when driving over them, but they still are uneven and make it awkward when trying to fit two cars down the road (it is a dead end road).

The owner/builder of the lots promised to pave the road once more of the lots sold. In our town, a road has to be 2 years old before it is considered a town road. As of now, most of the lots are sold, there might be 2 or 3 left. He refuses to pave the road, and keeps getting extensions from the town. Our road has also not been considered a town road yet for some reason, and I guess they are leaving it up to the owner/builder to pave it.

I drive a 12 year old Jeep, and little bumps don't really worry me. The problem is that other cars (Like my mom's Honda Fit) can really receive a beating from these drains. The bigger issue is that in the winter, the plows don't want to hit the drains, so they plow only a narrow section of the road, which makes a curvy road even more dangerous to drive on if a car is coming the other way. The plow guy is a friend of the owner, and never seems to do that great of a job. The road often doesn't get plowed until a day after the storm, which isn't a problem for those of us with 4-wheel drive, but my mom has a hard time driving to work. I end up plowing most of the road in front of our house with my own equipment so she can get out, same with my neighbor.

Who would I talk to in order to resolve this issue? Many have attempted to talk to the builder/owner of the road and he doesn't think it is a big deal. The town obviously keeps giving him extensions. My concern is more for the safety hazard in the winter, and the school bus driver agrees with me.

 

[bepperb]

The town board might be granting him extensions because nobody has let them know there is a problem. I would start there, asking your representative why they keep extending the timeframe. It could be as far as they know everything there is fine and the developer is just waiting to finish the last parcels before a last repave (which is what our neighborhood did).

 

[SwampSurvivor]

The way it works around here is he is probably paying off members of the town board to get the extensions.

 

[JimPghPA]

A petition with a lot of signatures presented at the local town monthly meeting carries much more weight and is more likely to get things done than one individual standing up and speaking for a couple of minutes.

And if the land owner puts off doing the work for the entire 2 years, then it is the towns problem. What an instinctive for him to not do it.

 

[Dave Hess]

Can you please post a picture of the curb and roadway.

 

[Pop_Rivit]

You might be better off not having it be a city owned/maintained road.

If it is city/county owned, and if they choose to make significant improvements, you'll be on the hook for a special assessment. As long as it's privately owned the owner is responsible and (unless you're part of a home owners association) doesn't have the ability to tack on a special assessment to your property taxes.

He's probably been granted an extension simply because the town doesn't want to take over maintenance and responsibility for the road (it's not cheap and most towns already have tight budgets).

 

[JHZR2]

My parents own a weekend home they built. It was in a develoment where the developer owned the roads, and turned them over to "the development" (there was no homeowners association or anything like that, so it was really to nobody). They were unpaved when turned over.

In that municipality, the roads had to be paved before the town would take them over.

In the end, all homeowners had to pay based upon frontage to get the roads paved. Anyone who didnt would have a lien placed on their property (as I recall, I dont know who placed the lien, if a small corporation was set up to versee this or what... to this day there is no association or anything like that).

The main bebnefit was to get municipal snow removal. It is a town where the homeowners pay for garbage, and there is no chance of municipal water, sewer or gas.

But unless there is a contractual obligation to improve, Ill bet youll be footing the bill at some point.

 

[jeepman3071]

I forgot to mention...

My next door neighbor is also a builder, but he builds mostly in other towns. He has tried talking to the town and they gave him a wishy washy answer. The guy who owns the road is a fairly big name in the town, and like Miller88 said I think there is some politics involved. They probably believe what the owner says about the road being fine vs. a couple people complaining.

I think the owner is trying to finish up the lots, then make the road a town road and consider it the towns problem. The funny part is that the town school bus already comes down the road, and we get town garbage pick up as well as mail delivery, etc. I know with some private roads the school bus or garbage trucks won't drive down them due to them not being town property.

Also, due to the drains being higher than the road surface, water and debris also collects next to them, making the road a mess. My neighbor's wife took pictures of it and sent it to the town, and they still did nothing.

I will try to get pics.

 

[Chris142]

Do you have proof in writing that states that he would pave the road after he sold a few more lots?

With due respect you bought the house on a dirt road knowing that it's a dirt road and now your not happy with the road. Kinda like the people that move next to an airport then complain about the noise or move next to a cattle ranch and complain about the smell.

I have been the last house on a very bad and unmaintained dirt road since 1974. The road is not maintained by the city or county. I'm in charge of 1.25 miles of dirt road. I prefer to keep it rough. Keeps people from driving real fast and since the last 1/4 mile is 4x4 only it keeps most trouble makers away.

If it was nice and paved I'd have people in my driveway at all hours of the day and night.

 

[jeepman3071]

Originally Posted By: Chris142
Do you have proof in writing that states that he would pave the road after he sold a few more lots?

With due respect you bought the house on a dirt road knowing that it's a dirt road and now your not happy with the road. Kinda like the people that move next to an airport then complain about the noise or move next to a cattle ranch and complain about the smell.

I have been the last house on a very bad and unmaintained dirt road since 1974. The road is not maintained by the city or county. I'm in charge of 1.25 miles of dirt road. I prefer to keep it rough. Keeps people from driving real fast and since the last 1/4 mile is 4x4 only it keeps most trouble makers away.

If it was nice and paved I'd have people in my driveway at all hours of the day and night.



I understand your point of view, and that is a good point. The road is not dirt, it has one layer of pavement. I lived on a dirt road previously and the town graded it every year.

I'd have to ask my parents (I live with them in this house) about that, but I know he basically told everyone on the road the same thing when they bought a house from him.

Whenever people on the road try to approach him he seems very standoffish and defensive, so I think most have given up for now. I'll have to ask about the contract when I get home from work.

 

[Gabe]

He gets the extensions because he applies and is qualified. I doubt that the local planning commission could turn him down even if they wanted to.

Normally, the road would be turned over as soon as possible by the builder. These roads are constructed to the minimum specifications with an expected service life of only 5 years. If the builder hasn't turned over the road yet, it is because the city/county as refused it. Since he has added asphalt it most likely didn't meet a subgrade or DOD requirement. That road is literally a ticking time bomb for your builder.

You have a couple of options here. First, you could contact the barn that is doing the plowing. Most of the time, they have no problem doing a private road if nobody has a problem with it. Since you have a problem, they will stop plowing. That would create a financial incentive to get the ball rolling a little faster.

Second, you could apply for 'right of way' to your property. Once approved, it will be out of your hands. An engineer will sit down with the build and discuss how to proceed. The engineer will not be granted extensions and a road MUST be put in quickly. This is a fairly drastic step and you might want to check with a lawyer before filing this. You will want to check that your builder isn't holding a property deed in some type of lease to own scheme.

Keep us posted.

 

[Donald]

I would start working the town board members one by one, planning board, and building inspector.

In many towns a builder will have to put up a bond to guarantee he will pave the road including storm sewers, etc. to town standards/codes. If he does not the town revokes his bond and hires someone to complete the work.

But he is getting extensions.

You need to find out what area in town government is giving him the extensions. Then work with them to make sure he is aware he will not get any future ones. See if they can revoke an extension and give him 30 days to pave it.

 

[SwampSurvivor]

Some friends of ours have a house on a private road, part of same scenario. Back in the 70s they bought the house when it was a developemnt. The road was paved at the time.

30 years later, the land owner of the road had a dispute ... their private road was no longer plowed.

Is the road ever going to be property of the village? As long as you don't live on a public road, you're going to have problems with it not getting maintained, etc. The developers generally don't pay too much attention after the stuff is put up

 

[JTK]

Play the safety card with the town. Call your local news channel.

Seriously though, a kid on a bike and one of those raised man-hole covers? Serious injury potential there.

Joel

 

[JimPghPA]

We live on a hill, and the man hole cover in the center of the road is not quite at the slope of the road, (tilted a little towards being level) and the indentation on the up hill side caused a Mercury Sabel to pop a ball joint and go out of control into our parked car. A mechanic who lives two doors down told me about that being a common problem with that vehicle.

 

[mechtech2]

Can you go door to door first? Talk to people and present a written statement that can be signed? Maybe enlist some help?
Tell them there is no cost to them, and only benefit.

Then approach everyone you can with the results. TV, local Govt, internet. etc.. Even the street owner.

 

[andyd]

In these parts a developer has to post a bond to complete a road. I would be making inquiries around town hall. Right about 10 seconds after the last lot is sold, it is conceivable the builder will fold.

 

[antiqueshell]

OP:

Although unfortunate, you knew the basic situation when you moved into the development, so I think that you will have to grin and bear it until either the developer/property owner chooses to do something, or the town takes over in the future. So you are in for a long wait.

As for safety it has been mentioned that the raised sewer manholes are buffered by asphalt risers to prevent injuries or accidents.

I'll never understand why folks go into something headlong with prior knowledge and then start complaining when things don't change.

 

[Chris142]

How long is this dirt/half paved road?

I think that you fell for the old "I'm going to pave the road after you buy my overpriced propety" trick again.

 

[simple_gifts]

Sounds like you should dispute your real estate assessment based on the fact the road isn't finished; you and all your neighbors. Just thinking out loud here...

Then the town might realize there is a $$ consequence to granting extensions.