Lazaro Aleman
ECB Publishing, Inc.
After months of waiting, residents of Ridge Road in the Casa Bianca Subdivision will be glad to hear that the paving of their private road is nearing the execution point.
Or so the county’s engineer told the Jefferson County Commission as part of an update on Thursday evening, Dec. 1, offering that the engineering plans for Ridge Road were 90 percent complete.
We’re planning on reviewing and finalizing these next week and having them all ready to go,” the engineer said in reference to the plans for Ridge and several other roads listed on a spreadsheet that he had earlier provided the commissioners.
Residents of Ridge Road in the Casa Bianca Subdivision have been waiting for their road to be paved since June, when the commission approved a resolution to that effect.
Like Valley View Estates Road before it, Ridge Road is being paved at the expense of the property owners who reside along the road.
As dictated by the terms of agreement between the county and the Ridge Road homeowners association, the paving is expected to cost a little more than $1 million, which cost is being distributed among the 28 property owners along the road.
Per the agreement, each property owner is to pay an annual assessment of $566 for a period of 10 years. The assessment, which is collected via the annual tax bills, is not supposed to exceed $15,858 in aggregate.
As it is, some of the residents chose to pay their shares of the cost upfront instead of spreading the cost over the 10-year period, thus saving in interest.
The Ridge Road homeowners were initially told that their road would be paved in late summer or early fall. The county, however, subsequently experienced some upheaval with the departure of several of its key personnel, including the county coordinator, who had largely overseen road-paving projects.
Also departing at about the same time were the county attorney and engineer, all of which individuals had to be replaced before normal operations could resume.
The authority for imposition of the special assessment for capital improvement projects on private properties is found in a master ordinance adopted in 2020. The ordinance provides a mechanism for the creation of special assessment districts and authorizes the board to impose special non ad-valorem assessments to fund capital and services improvement projects in specified areas.
The way that the process works is that residents of private subdivisions that express an interest in participating in the program are canvassed individually to determine the willingness of each to participate and pay the assessment.
A study then follows to determine the exact cost of the project and how much of the cost will be apportioned to each landowner who benefits from the improvement.
A system is next set up for collection of the annual special assessment via the tax collector’s office and is imposed on the affected landowners by a resolution.
The reason for the assessment is that private subdivisions are not entitled to the use of public funds for the upgrade or upkeep of their roadways.