Post by Admin on Aug 19, 2018 10:07:07 GMT -7
Private Roads Get Fixed With Landowner Assessment Funds...Again
The Glastonbury Landowners Association (GLA) is legally required by our Covenants to maintain Glastonbury platted roads and spend at least 51% of their income on roads. However the GLA has a long history of using landowner assessment funds to maintain private and county roads. Since 1998, private and county roads were paid for, in part, with assessment funds. Here are examples: In 1999 $30,000.00 was donated to Park County for grading Dry Creek Road and paving Story Road1. In 2001 over $500,000.00 (including interest), was spent for paving platted and private roads in North Glastonbury, and the county-owned Dry Creek Road in South Glastonbury2. Private Golden Age Village and CUT owned roads in North Glastonbury were graded, plowed, mowed and neatly maintained with landowner funds since 1998.
In the May 1999 GLA Minutes quote then GLA President Patrick Wolberd explaining that paving county owned Storey Road would enhance property values in North Glastonbury and would "positively effect the Church's [Church Universal and Triumphant] parcels". Although CUT legally relinquished control of Glastonbury in 1998 the old-timers who still dominate the Board of Directors frequently use their power and influence to serve the needs and wishes of CUT rather than ALL landowners. Thus CUT privately owned roads not only get maintained with landowner funds but also receive preferential treatment.
The Covenants, in Section 8.01 c, state, "The Association intends to maintain a private road system within the platted road easements for vehicular access to the various parcels within the community." According to the GLA Covenants, the "platted road easements are those shown on the Certificate of Survey.” Maintaining platted roads is the primary responsibility of the GLA. No where in the Covenants is the GLA required to maintain or be responsible for private or county roads.
On July 8th, 2017 the Forum reported that the 2017 Spring Road Work contract was mysteriously altered after the Road Committee voted to approve it. Consequently, a decision was made to use thousands of dollars of landowner assessment funds to pay for maintenance on private roads located on Church Universal and Triumphant (CUT) property.
Read the full article here.
The Fall 2017 Grading contract carefully spelled out which roads were private, and therefore, could not receive maintenance funds from the GLA. Fall grading work had to be postponed, due to the premature arrival of winter in early October. In the spring of 2018, the Road Committee and GLA Board, by a majority vote, cancelled existing contracts and curtailed spring maintenance. Gone were the 2017 Fall Grading contract prohibitions on maintaining private roads.
When the 2017 Spring Grading Contract was illegally altered the first road to receive maintenance was the gravel portion of Sirius Drive in North Glastonbury. Likewise, in the spring of 2018, the first road to receive maintenance was the gravel portion of Aries Drive in North Glastonbury. Both gravel portions of Sirius Drive and Aries Drive are private roads that sit on land owned by Church Universal and Triumphant (CUT). Like Route 89 and Interstate 90, GLA landowners drive on them, but the GLA Board has no legal obligation to maintain them. The gravel portion of Sirius Drive leads to Golden Age Village.
On July 8th, 2017 the Forum reported that the 2017 Spring Road Work contract was mysteriously altered after the Road Committee voted to approve it. Consequently, a decision was made to use thousands of dollars of landowner assessment funds to pay for maintenance on private roads located on Church Universal and Triumphant (CUT) property.
Read the full article here.
The Fall 2017 Grading contract carefully spelled out which roads were private, and therefore, could not receive maintenance funds from the GLA. Fall grading work had to be postponed, due to the premature arrival of winter in early October. In the spring of 2018, the Road Committee and GLA Board, by a majority vote, cancelled existing contracts and curtailed spring maintenance. Gone were the 2017 Fall Grading contract prohibitions on maintaining private roads.
When the 2017 Spring Grading Contract was illegally altered the first road to receive maintenance was the gravel portion of Sirius Drive in North Glastonbury. Likewise, in the spring of 2018, the first road to receive maintenance was the gravel portion of Aries Drive in North Glastonbury. Both gravel portions of Sirius Drive and Aries Drive are private roads that sit on land owned by Church Universal and Triumphant (CUT). Like Route 89 and Interstate 90, GLA landowners drive on them, but the GLA Board has no legal obligation to maintain them. The gravel portion of Sirius Drive leads to Golden Age Village.
Privately owned Aries Drive looking towards the intersection with Taurus Road
just after 2018 spring grading.
Privately owned Aries Drive looking towards the intersection with Sirius Drive
just after 2018 spring grading.
Orion Way after 2018 Spring Grading - a platted road that the GLA is legally
responsible for but totally neglected.
Golden Age Village (GAV), per the Covenants, is part of Glastonbury, but its roads are NOT platted; they are privately owned. It comprises part of parcels 3 and 4 in North Glastonbury, described as a Mobile Home Park with 49 lots in the GLA Covenants - Appendix, Exhibit A. Church Universal and Triumphant owns both parcel 3 and 4, and pays the GLA, 49 resident and one road assessment every year.
The GLA has traditionally maintained and plowed the roads within GAV: Helios Way, Vesta Lane, Helios Circle, and Vesta Circle. GAV has its own community water and septic system. The gravel portion of Sirius Drive is also NOT part of the GLA platted road network; rather, it is a private access road which serves GAV, a privately owned commercial, subdivision development.
All of Aries Drive, including both the paved and gravel portions, were built outside of the GLA platted easements. Until they are included in the GLA easements, Glastonbury landowners are NOT obligated to maintain, mow, pave or plow them.
Map of Aries Drive, Sirius Drive and GAV roads.
Golden Age Village Area - Road Easements
Grey solid lines in the above map are the actual roads in and around GAV. Red dashes are privately owned roads. Green dashes are original GLA Platted Road Easements. Yellow dashes are possible prescriptive easements created by non-contested use and must be designated by a court. None of these roads has yet been designated with a judicial prescriptive easement.
Both red and yellow dashes represent roads, which are NOT covered by the GLA Covenants, and thus, Glastonbury landowners are not responsible for maintaining them. However landowners have been paying for maintenance, mowing, paving and plowing on these private roads for over 20 years. Meanwhile other roads that the GLA is legally required to maintain like Aquarius Lane, Mercury Lane, Orion Way and several roads in High South have been almost completely neglected.
Note how the original GLA easements circle behind the soccer field and up towards Jupiter Way.
The misuse of landowner assessments is a huge and decades old problem in Glastonbury. The Forum recently chronicled how assessments were used to dredge Golmeyer Creek and build a 250 foot illegal driveway on privately owned land in High South Glastonbury. We are currently working on another article involving misuse of funds in North Glastonbury and expect to publish it soon.
End-notes
1 -The May 24th, 1999 GLA Minutes, section 4.4 Road Committee, records that $30,000.00 was allocated for Park County work on two county owned roads; Storey Road and Dry Creek Road. $15,000.00 went for paving Storey Road and another $15,000.00 was spent for grading out washboards on Dry Creek Road near Avalon Drive.
2 - The August 2001 GLA Minutes, section 3.3 Road Committee, records the cost of paving North Glastonbury private and platted roads and Dry Creek county road in South Glastonbury as $305,000.00. $55,000.00 was paid from GLA assessment funds and $250,000.00 came from a 15 year loan with the Bank of the Rockies. The September 10th, 2001 GLA Minutes, section 3.1 Treasurer's Report, states that the $250,000.00 loan had an interest rate of 8.5% with quarterly payments of $ 7,556.32. Thus the total loan with interest would be $453,379.20. Therefore the total cost of the paving would be $453,379.20 + $55,000.00 = $508,379.20. The loan was paid off about one year early and CUT reportedly paid 1% of the interest so the total cost to landowners was slightly lower than $508,379.20.
Do You Live on a Platted or Private Road?
Download Aerial Road Maps of Glastonbury
- These are aerial photo maps with superimposed parcel boundaries. Platted road end points are marked with an "X". Culvert locations are marked with blue lines. These maps are provided to contractors for snow plowing, mowing, grading and gravel work that the GLA is legally required to perform but ONLY on platted roads.
- Aerial Road Maps of North Glastonbury
- Aerial Road Maps of South Glastonbury
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