Improving Chance of Getting Streets Dedicated

Our streets are not dedicated to the township. Some of the board members from long ago say that we approached the township a couple of times. There are no records, but apparently the stated reasons for turning us down were: (1) our streets are too narrow; and (2) our streets are not through streets to other roads or communities. Our physical plan cannot be altered.

Meanwhile, we need to start repaving our streets in a couple of years. While we can't widen our streets, this would be an opportune time to approach the township again. We would be willing to go above and beyond current repaving requirements if the township would allow us to dedicate our streets.

We are a townhouse community. Next door is a single family home community that was once part of the same farm as us. Only 20% of their streets are through streets. But all of their streets are dedicated. Admittedly, their streets are wider.

Our primary argument is that our townhouses pay more in combined RE taxes than our single family neighbors do, and we have fewer linear feet of roadway than they do. We believe that we should be entitled to either a tax abatement or a higher level of service (i.e. township ownership of our streets).

Does anyone have any experience with a similar situation? What pitfalls should we avoid? What else do you think we should do in support of our pursuit?

Thanks.

Thanks Steve for your worthwhile comments.

Can you give me a resource where I can get a quick overview of special tax districts? We have the funds. We are looking for a way to shift the responsibility when we have to repave in another 20-25 years.

We had a similar issue with our streets. We were in the county. Our roads were private. They are too narrow for city regulations and 2 sided parking. We were able to turn over our streets over to the city when we went to individual water meters.

Here is the catch...Our streets are now PUBLIC. Which means we have no control of them at all. We want changes or repairs? We have to go to the city to request. We can not enforce our parking restrictions. We can not tow. We may still make people park in driveways and garages but that's the extent. The city has the right to write tickets, put in street signs, and not allow restriction on access.

The other thing that your HOA has to do. They have to write in and change the CC&R's to reflect the change of being PUBLIC streets. It has to be written in the documents and filed. A cost of a few thousand dollars and a community vote. NOT a board only vote. Which means a majority vote of the owners to approve the turn over and to pay for adopting.

A fallout to this is if your like our HOA and most... No signs other than for sale/rent are allowed. The city has to put up signs of their restrictions like speed limits, no parking, kids playing, and stop/yield signs. No parking signs are to be a certain distance from each other. So you can look like New York City street with all the signs. Very tacky and unattractive.

We had to go to the city and make up a new code. Our curbs were painted Red for no parking and blue or handicap parking. This avoided us from having signs every 100 feet. This also has to be conveyed to the owners. Plus the city is now in charge of making these changes and requires ordinances.

So if you all are willing to give up your privacy use of the roads, have municipal street signs, no longer enforce parking restrictions, and can afford to rewrite your documents... then consider this an option.

Our HOA had 1 water meter serving ALL the members. Which meant you did not pay your dues, we turned your water off. All of this documented in our rules. We had to raise our dues because of the leak expenses and those wasting water. It was cheaper for us to go t individual water meters and give up the option of water turning off. However, the city required us to turn over our roads to be public so the public utility had access to install and maintain the water lines. We did have to pay out over 20K in a special assessment of all the owners and then pay for this to be changed in our CC&R's.

The streets are still too narrow. We had to go to the city and fire department. One side of the streets with the fire hydrants are all no parking. The city agreeing to a new code of painted curbs to indicate no parking.

I have to run to work... Post more later. It is not cheap and without consequences...

ps.

seal coating = $25,000 per mile every 3-5 years

light milling and 1" overlay = $70,000 per mile every 5-10 years

milling and repaving = $750,000 per mile every 20-25 years

complete repaving = $1,000,000 per mile every 30-40 years

This will take a visit to your city council meetings or in your case township. PA has townships which many of us don't have in our respective states. So you would know best how the township process works when it comes to approving and adopting. In our city, we had to make ordinances and have the city approve them. Which you can imagine takes time because it's not just our residents deciding. It's the whole city and city budget.

Was it worth it? It depends. There were some trade offs. We had personalized wood made signs for our street names. Which gave it a nice appeal. However, the city had us remove them and go with their green reflective signs. We had to cut down some foliage so the stop/yield signs could be seen at intersections. Which a few homeowners had to modify their foot fences to trail down to 4 feet. They blocked the view making us liable for accidents. We were lucky enough to avoid over signage with no parking signs. Which cause havoc for lawncare. Weedeating around signs would be awful. Not to mention making the place look bad.

We've had a few minor repairs but no repaving. A sink hole did form on 1 road. Sink holes are prevelant in the area. Otherwise, the streets have been in good condition. Abandoned cars can now be called into the city to remove but still part of our rules if they are in the yards.

All you can do is try. Just understand it's a long process with many steps. It will cost money. You will be giving up the rights of privacy and enforcement. This is something that should be agreed upon before even approaching the city by the owners. Make sure they are on board before going to the city representing your HOA. You may find some opposition showing up not as HOA members but as township tax payers.