Barboursville, Virginia

Roads and Assessments--Hardwick Mountain

From HMPOA Board of Directors

Updated 7.10.10

(This is the second update to a road plan initially adopted by the Board in 2006;
the phases, targets and timeframe remain the same)

A. Summary
Our roads are a tremendously important asset to each lot owner and to the Association. Keeping all 1.2 miles in good repair is the board’s primary role. We’re doing our best to maintain them for both the immediate and the long term. Indeed, owners spent over 100 hours on the roads in each of the past two years. Taking care of the roads is also a responsibility every property owner assumes by virtue of buying land here.

Re-surfacing prices have increased dramatically over the past five years, due in part to shifting from tar and gravel to asphalt, and in larger part due to major petroleum price increases. The rate we have paid for re-surfacing jumped from $2.54 a square yard in 2001 to $11.62 a square yard in 2009 - a 357% increase in five years. Assessments have risen a much smaller 60% over the same time period. (see graphs reflecting the cost and income comparison in Appendix)

Our goal is to have our three main roads asphalted by fall 2012, and we’re on track to achieve that. But with the age of the portion of Hardwick Mountain Drive that is still tar and gravel now far exceeding its life expectancy, we’re in a delicate situation. If we must patch or repair that before summer of 2012, we will not meet our goal for re-surfacing. If that happens, we will remain in catch-up mode for another couple of years. None of us wants that to happen. We need everyone’s help to maintain our roads, now more than ever.

B. Our Roads
Hardwick Mountain Property Owners Association owns the road system consisting of 50’ rights of way in the subdivision. The paved roads consist of the following:

Hardwick Mountain Drive	3,424' end to end
Turkey Ridge	1,197' end to end
Chestnut Lane	876' end to end
Double Top	456' end to end
Montagna Lane	275' end to end
Total	6,288 (just under 1.2 miles)

The Association owns one other section of right of way that has not been graded between lots 30 and 31.

C. Road Resurfacing history
When developer Don Ober put the original roads in for the Hardwick Mountain subdivision in 1972-73, he was not restricted by VDOT as to incline (hence the steep road on the south entrance). Hardwick Mountain Drive was originally all gravel, and Don had tar and gravel applied from the entrance to the top a year or two later.

Over the years board members have talked with various paving companies, but found few good companies willing to work on our steep roads. We selected C&G Paving as reliable and reasonably priced. Each road paver and VDOT rep we talked with told us that tar and gravel should last 4-5 years on our roads, and asphalt should last 10-15 years. Up until a few years ago they also told us that asphalt would cost two to three times as much as tar and gravel. This made the value of the two alternatives roughly equal, but asphalt’s initial cost made it prohibitive – so all of our roads were tar and gravel.

In 2006 Jeff Gray at C&G Paving encouraged us to consider asphalt, which had not increased in price as much as tar and gravel had - so that in summer 2006 asphalt cost only 30 - 40% more, rather than 100 - 200% more. Thus asphalt had become a much better value than tar and gravel, although the initial cost was still higher. At that time the board elected to pave Chestnut Lane and Turkey Ridge with asphalt - thus upgrading part of our system and providing an opportunity for us to compare asphalt vs. tar and gravel on our roads over time.

Once we had these new cost and durability numbers and a chance to observe the benefits of asphalt on the two roads, the board adopted the Road Plan in early 2006 – the goal of which was to get all of our main roads asphalted by 2012. This plan was discussed in detail at the June 2006 annual meeting, and described in May and July mailings to all lot owners, as well as at every subsequent board meeting and annual meeting. Phase I was completed in late July 2006 - asphalt applied to Chestnut Lane and Turkey Ridge, tar and gravel applied to 560’ of Hardwick Mountain Drive and to Montagna Lane, and Doubletop patched. Phase II was completed in September 2009 when asphalt was applied to 1489’ of Hardwick Mountain Drive. The final part of this plan, Phase III, is to complete asphalt application to all of Hardwick Mountain Drive in 2012.

While the Association does not have records for when each section of road was originally coated with tar and gravel, we do have records of expenditures for re-surfacing for the past 19 years. Those are as follows:

Date of Re-surfacing	Amount Spent
July 1991	$5,079	(no record of which roads done)
June 1994	$10,979	(no record of which roads done)
November 1997	$3,374	(C&G, Chestnut Lane)
December 2001	$20,000	(F&H did 7,866 sq yds/79% of roads, double coat tar and gravel)
March 2005		contracted with F&H to apply tar and gravel to all roads for $25,435 - which they failed to deliver
July 2006	$38,092	(C&G applied asphalt to Chestnut Run and Turkey Ridge; tar and gravel to 560’ from entrance of Hardwick Mountain Dr. and patched broken areas; tar and gravel Montagna Lane; patch Doubletop.)
October 2007	$7,500	Asphalt Doubletop (Yetzer paid)
September 2009	$30,000	(C&G applied asphalt to 1489’ of Hardwick Mountain Dr, starting at 239’ and going to 1728’ for total of 2581 sq yds @ $11.62/sq yd)

Over the years there has been a continuous increase in traffic due to the addition of more homes (and more cars per home, and more heavy vehicles). More traffic means more wear and tear, which means the roadways need more care than they have in the past.

(See “Annual assessment due for first lot by year in Appendix)

D. Assessments - Income

(See “Resurfacing cost per yard paid by HMPOA” in Appendix)

Current assessments are $351.38 for the first lot owned (x27 lots = $9,487.26); and $175.69 for additional lots owned by one family (x14 lots = $2,459.66); for a total annual income of $11,946.92.

Annual expenses for everything but road re-surfacing have averaged roughly $1,100 / year (except for winter of 2009/2010, when we had to spend $2,612 – of which $2,275 was for snow removal). Treasurers reports are distributed at each annual meeting detailing these expenses, most of which are for the roads (primarily snow removal and gravel for edges).

Approximate amount in treasury as of 5.24.10	$3,603
Approximate assessments due 6.30.10	6,149
Total estimated to be in treasury as of July 2010	$9,752
Approximate portion of this available for re-surfacing	$9,000

Additional amounts (approximate) we will have available for re-surfacing, after deducting $1,100 for other expenses, if there are no additional assessment increases:

7.1.10 through 6.30.11	$10,850
7.1.11 through 6.30.12	$10,850
Approximate funds available for re-surfacing roads as of 7.01.09:	$30,000
(This assumes no road repairs in the interim, and not exceeding the average of $1,100/year in all maintenance and administrative expenses. Whether this amount is sufficient will also depend on a minor increase in paving rates.)

E. How we can each help maintain the roads, so we have to spend less repairing them
How we treat our roads significantly impacts how well they stand up over time, and how soon we have to repair or resurface them. The work to build up the edges with crusher run where the asphalt drops off is an example of how individual owners can help. Owners have spread 72 tons of crusher run to the edges of Hardwick Mountain Drive, Turkey Ridge and Chestnut Lane during 2009 and 2010.

There are some things each of us can do to maintain our roads so they require less maintenance.

1. Maintain your driveway connection to the road so it is even

• Drop-offs (occurring primarily on drives on the lower side of the roadway) ultimately result in cracks and breakage to the edges of the road, which must then be patched with asphalt (extra cost).

2. Stay off the edges as much as possible

• The edges are the most vulnerable areas. Cracks typically begin there, and spread inward. This damage must then be repaired before the road can be re-surfaced.

3. Schedule heavy work (heavy trucks / loads) for cooler months (not June through August), as asphalt can be most damaged when hot, by heavy loads - especially if heavy vehicles stop or turn on the hot surface. Ask contractors to schedule early in the day deliveries, and where possible to use smaller trucks. Do not allow any track vehicles on our roads. Treat the roads as if they were yours…because they are!

4. Volunteer to help us spread and smooth crusher run along the asphalt edges.

5. Notify a board member if you see damage or deterioration anywhere on the roads.

F. FAQ’s
Why was asphalt applied to the portions of the roads in the places and order it was applied?
Board members periodically inspect every foot of our roads for deterioration (edges beginning to break, cracks, washboarding, etc.) Records, including pictures of the worst areas and comments from owners, are kept. As we get closer to having re-surfacing done, we go over the roads with Jeff Gray of C&G Paving. All of this is reviewed in light of when previous work was done by section, our budget and our long-term plan. This is reviewed and discussed at each annual meeting and each public board meeting.

In 2006, board members agreed the areas needing repair the most were Chestnut Lane, Turkey Ridge and the south slope of Hardwick Mountain Drive. We wanted to test asphalt on our roads, and had just enough money in the treasury to pay for asphalt on the two “side” roads, with enough left to apply tar and gravel to the part of Hardwick Mountain Drive that was in the worst condition – the first 560’.

During the next couple of years washboarding got steadily worse on the south slope of Hardwick Mountain Drive, and the edges began breaking up in yard-long chunks in several places. Through two years of ongoing discussions the decision was made to apply asphalt to the worst part, which was from a point beginning at 400’ to a point near the crest of Hardwick Mountain Drive.

The morning C&G began work, they informed us they could do 200’ more than we had contracted for, and could do another 200’ for a rate half of what we were paying for the rest. They needed a quick decision on what we wanted to do, and after several rushed calls to board members who could be reached it was agreed to add half the extra asphalt at each end of the previously-planned re-surfacing. The result is what you see.

Why don’t we consider black-topping small portions of the road as the funds in the treasury permit?
Two reasons this would be counter-productive:
1. The half of Hardwick Mountain Drive not yet asphalted needs to be re-surfaced as soon as possible. Paving small portions would mean some parts wouldn’t be re-surfaced for several years - increasing the risk of serious deterioration, and necessitating expensive repairs.
2. Small portions come at a significantly higher price than doing a whole road, thus using our money inefficiently and increasing the gap between the need to re-surface Hardwick Mountain Drive and the time we’d be able to afford it.

Furthermore, it typically takes 6 to 9 months to get a paver here to do our roads; good pavers don’t just show up quickly to do small portions.

Could VDOT take over our roads?
For years we thought this might be a possibility, as Orange County set aside a small portion of the road funds received from the state for upgrading subdivision roads to VDOT standards.

However, after discussions with attorneys, VDOT and Orange County supervisors, we realized this is not an option for us. For more info on this, see 10.16.07 notice from HMPOA board to all members.

Once our roads are all asphalted will we be able to reduce assessments?
Until we learn how well asphalt holds up on the southern slope of Hardwick Mountain Drive and how repair and replacement costs are going to change, we don’t know what assessments will be necessary in the long term. The current board certainly hopes there is no need for further increases in the next several years - but we think it is premature to consider reducing assessments.

Got other questions, or suggestions? Check out the Forum on hardwickmountain.org, or contact any board member.

Your Board of Directors

Appendix

Back to discussion above.

Back to discussion above.

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