Cedar Landing 2 & Creek Estates Road Maintenance Organization
Meeting: Discuss Road and Traffic problems of the Private Roads in CL2 & CE
Location: Pender County Annex; Room 214; Hampstead, NC
Date: May 3, 2016 @ 3:30pm
Attendees:
Pender County:>> County Manager, Randal Woodruff, Planning Director, Kyle Breuer.
CL-CE RMO: >> Carl Mounts, Bobby Phillips, Sue Conerly, Ryan Bisping, Jeff Conerly
The meeting was organized to provide an opportunity for the CL2-CE Road Maintenance Organization to present and discuss the traffic and maintenance problems with the private roads in the Cedar Landing 2 and Creek Estates subdivisions to Pender County Manager, Randal woodruff and Planning Director, Kyle Breuer. A special thanks to Randal and Kyle to setting up the meeting and working with the RMO to better understand the help find options and solutions for the road maintenance problems we are facing.
Discussion Highlights:
The maintenance of the roads in CL2 & CE suddenly surfaced as a major crisis in July of 2015 when a letter was received that road maintenance would no longer by provided. This was a surprise to the property owners and there was no community organization of any kind to deal with the sudden problem dropped in our laps.
Over the next 6 months a road maintenance organization was formed and incorporated with the State of NC Articles of Incorporation and By-Laws are registered and posted with the Secretary of State of NC. A list of property owners assembled and bills for road maintenance mailed out. To date, payments have been received by a little over 60% of the 220+ property owners.
Contact with Don Grady, DOT Jacksonville and Karen. Collette, Div 3 Engineer proved nonproductive.
There is a CL-CE RMO website ( cl-cermo.com) that is the focal point for background, information, maps, and membership status.
There are 2 major issues that are facing the RMO:
- Payment of maintenance fee by only 60% leaves a funding shortfall for effective repair and maintenance. Several Local mortgage companies have started contacting the CL-CE RMO for road maintenance payment status as a part of the property sale closing process. Some type ordnance or ruling is needed to ensure that all future property sales in a subdivision without a Home Owners Association include a requirement that the buyer must join the RMO and pay the maintenance fee. Since the RMO, unlike an HOA, is a voluntary organization membership and payment of the maintenance fee is also voluntary. There are around 350 property owners in the 3 subdivision, Creek Estates, Dear Run, and Cedar Landing 2 which represents an estimated $220,000 in Pender County property taxes. Are there options to obtains funds from the state for the purpose of road maintenance? Discussion here ranged from an ordinance requiring new owners to join the CL-CE RMO to obtain funds from existing road maintenance and improvement funds.
- The short cut (see chart below) though the two subdivisions has become widely known and is regularly used by local traffic (non CL-CE property owners), delivery, and EMS. The more urgent issue is the excessively high vacation traffic traveling at an excessive speed (well beyond the posted 20MPH) using the shortcut to bypass the regular bumper to bumper traffic on Hwy 210 all the way to the swing bridge. It is also a convenient shortcut to Lanier’s Campground and other local vacation rental property. This excessive traffic places a virtually impossible burden on the budget since most of the funds are required just to repair and maintain the shortcut roads while ignoring most of the repair work needed on the remaining roads. There was a lot of conversation and discussion about this item including an increased presence of law enforcement, gating access to the private roads, help with the traffic, and liability in event of an accident.
Actions:
Law enforcement – Investigate and request additional law enforcement presence from Sheriff’s department to help control traffic. Initial contact and requests have been made by Carl with no visible results. Action: Kyle Breuer
Liability – Inquire with Legal to determine an unofficial legal statement on the liability of the RMO for any kind of road related damages. Action: Kyle Breuer
Access Restriction – Inquire with Legal to determine an unofficial legal statement on the legal authority of the Cl-CE RMO to block and/or restrict traffic on the private roads that have been open for public usage for over 20 years. Action: Kyle Breuer
Ordinance: – Investigate the feasibility of a county ordinance that would require future property sales to include a requirement to join the CL-CE RMO. Action: Kyle Breuer
Maintenance Funds – Investigate options where the CL-CE RMO may obtain or have access to DOT or County funds. Since the private roads are available to the public and are used extensively by other local residents and beach visitors as well as by county EMS some level of funding for maintenance should be available. Action: Kyle Breuer
Residents – Provide a spread sheet of the property owners and lot numbers that is used for the website maps and membership charts. Action: Jeff Conerly
Private Road Ownership – Provide a copy of the deed that conveyed the private road property to all of the property owners. each owner now owns the property to the middle of the private road. This was done without any knowledge of the property owners and with the intent to remove the developer from any responsibility for road maintenance. Action: Jeff Conerly
Law enforcement – Identify Lot(s) where sheriffs vehicle may be parked. Action: Carl Mounts
CL-CE RMO Private Roads & DOT Roads Overview
