Abolish HOA or Resurrect it?

Hello all,

Should I push for our HOA to dissolve or resurrect? I'm hoping this is not a pandoras box that gets more frustrating as it progresses. Any advice would be great. I toured the world in the Army (retired now) living in government quarters and never owned a home till 3 years ago. So I have zero knowledge on the workings of HOAs but want to make a change in my community.

A little history first: I am a homeowner that bought 3 years ago in a 10 year old 22 house development. The HOA that was in place has never been operating in the time I lived here. The original HOA President moved away before I moved in and we have no board that any of us know about. My first house payment included $50 towards the non-existent HOA. There have been no payments since of course.
This development consists of a short culdesack with all the houses tightly packed in around it. Our development is right in the middle of a larger 30 year old 300(ish) home development. Our land was initially intended to be a park, was never developed as such, and eventually became more houses. The surrounding larger development has no HOA and roads are maintained by the county. Our small development is not maintained by the county since we all live on a "Private Drive".
Our mailboxes are on a now dilapidated wooden covered post-and-rail cluster. No lock boxes. We've had problems before of mail being stolen so most folks take outbound mail to the post office.
I recently tried to get the county to replace our only stop sign that is severly faded (red is now light pink) and the county denied us. I was given a website of a sign manufacturer that the county uses for their signs. A new stop sign is around $70 (depending on size) minus s/h if you never knew. Some of my neighbors are concerned about the long term issues that may crop up with our roads if the county will not maintain them.

I hope thats enough info to warrant some constructive advice. Sorry it was long.

Thanks in advance!

Fred
Spanaway, WA

FredP,

First, get a hold of the articles of incorporation for your HOA that should be on file with the county clerk's office. Where did the $50.00 payment go to? In the 3 years you've lived in your HOA, who has removed the snow from your roadways(that is if you get any snow in Spanaway, WA)? Repair and replacement of the common elements (stop signs, mailboxes, roadways, common sidewalks, etc.) will be the primary goal with or without an official HOA Board. Say the stop sign is $140 including installation, someone needs to organize the owners to chip in $6.36 each. Sounds like your a candidate!! : )