County property owners might pay to have private roads reworked
Published 12:00 am Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Property owners who want their neighborhood streets improved in Warren County might get the work done at their own expense if supervisors determine a self-help law passed in 1989 is applicable.
Under the law,
• A prospective street or road must not be under current county maintenance.
• Residents petition for the county to survey and estimate costs of applying asphalt, concrete or other durable material.
• 60 percent of landowners file another petition and agree to pay for the work in a lump sum or via a special tax on each tract, which could be spread out for as long as 20 years, applying to subsequent owners as needed.
Several small subdivisions accessible only by private, gravel roads dot Warren County just off its main thoroughfares north, east and south of Vicksburg.
Development types vary greatly, with some leading to spacious homes that can sell for $250,000 or more, while others snake their way through mobile home developments where road conditions deteriorate quickly with little or no maintenance from the developer.
Guidelines enacted in 2004 have firmed guidelines on construction, drainage and elevation and privately built roads must meet county specifications before being accepted for maintenance at public expense.
This process often leads to frustration for homebuyers if developers don’t follow through with certification. Roads get in bad shape, are not eligible for work by county crews and developers have moved on to other projects.
District 1 Supervisor David McDonald, who said he liked the idea, said Monday roads left unfinished as a result of subdivisions yet to have final plats approved would make excellent candidates for improvement through private financing — singling out parts of Pebble Beach Drive, parts 11 and 12 of Fairways, Amberleaf and Brandi Lane subdivisions.
“We just don’t have the money to pave them,” McDonald said. “I’d hate to see property values go down on these.”
Supervisors indicated an attorney general’s opinion could clarify terms in the statute, 65-19-88 in the Mississippi Code of 1972, such as “public street” or “developed subdivision.”
Annual updates on road conditions outside the city have only just begun, as routine road paving has tailed off since 2007.
Roads resurfaced in 2009 were both sections for which the county receives funds from the Mississippi Department of Transportation Office of State Aid Road Construction, Eagle Lake Shore and Tucker roads. Size- and population-determined cuts of state aid money for Warren County has decreased more than 30 percent in the past four years.
At least 13 small and large subdivisions have had final plats approved since an aggressive letter-writing campaign in the summer of 2008 threatened legal action in county court for developers found to be in violation of the ordinance.
However, an equal number of them have not reported, making them subject to injunctions by county engineers.
Contact Danny Barrett Jr. at dbarrett@vicksburgpost.com