A group of Udolpho Township residents looking for relief with unkept roads will either have to go back to the drawing board or drop their case.

The county board voted 3-2 to deny a petition by a group of residents to force the Udolpho Township board to begin maintaining about a mile of gravel roads through winter plowing and spring grading.

Commissioners Ray Tucker, Tim Gabrielson and Mike Ankeny voted to deny the homeowners petition, and Commissioners Tony Bennett and Jerry Reinartz voted against the motion to deny.

“I feel the township was not negligent,” Tucker said when he entered the motion to deny.

Property owners in Cedar River Estates along 304th Street, 306th Street and 538th Avenue had asked the county board to require Udolpho Township to begin maintaining their roads open and safe during the winter.

Township officials said the roads were private driveways in a development that never met the minimum standards for the township to start maintenance.

The move to deny came as a surprise to the homeowners’ attorney, Craig Byram, who noted the commissioners had focused many of their comments and questions on costs at at a public hearing Nov. 8.

“I was very surprised,” he said after the meeting. “At the conclusion of the first hearing, all the comments from the commissioners seemed to be focused on the idea that if the cost analysis came out right that this was fair.”

Though Byram said all the factors the board discussed seemed to favor the homeowners, the board denied their petition.

The homeowners still have options. They can appeal to the state court or they can go to the township for further discussions, which Byram said does not seem likely.

“The township has been so incredibly hostile to them and, frankly, rude to them, that they don’t believe that there’s any interest in the township,” Byram said.

Costs

Udolpho Township currently maintains about 43.6 miles of gravel road, which was updated after Byram discussed there being about 36 miles of road at the Nov. 8 meeting. At that first meeting, the township’s cost of adding more road had been a key debate.

“It all boils down to the costs,” Tucker said at the first meeting.

The county board requested cost estimates for plowing and grading work, but both sides provided differing figures. While Byram and the homeowners estimated the costs to be at most $1,500, based on numbers from the state auditor’s office, the township submitted figures of more than $4,000.

Despite differing estimates, Byram said the properties in question pay far higher property taxes than before they were developed.

In 2002, one of the properties was paying about $760 for property taxes, and projected 2011 taxes are estimated at $2,200, according to Byram.

From a cost perspective, Reinartz said there didn’t seem to be an issue with the township picking up maintenance.

“Based on the taxes generated by the properties … cost of maintenance doesn’t seem to be a real concern,” Reinartz said.

On Nov. 8, township officials had said the added cost would be a burden to the township.

Township officials didn’t offer any new comments during the meeting Tuesday, and kept mostly silent at the meeting. The township’s attorney, Troy Gilchrist, did not attend the meeting.

A turning point?

One turning point may have been the information that the developer of Cedar River Estates was maintaining the roads until economic hardship caused the developer to stop.

The developer had planned to sell more of the parcels in the estates, but few properties have sold in some time.

The township board had argued the roads in the subdivision, which was built in about the last decade, are private driveways the township doesn’t have to maintain based on its policies.

At the Nov. 8 meeting, the homeowners sited public safety concerns and said they’d be unable to get to work during extreme snowstorms. Homeowner Kathleen Oswald argued the unkept roads would jeopardize the safety of property owners if there was an emergency, a concern noted by the county board Nov. 8.

“If we have a road that will not be plowed, I don’t think that’s a safe environment,” Gabrielson said before.

On Tuesday, Gabrielson noted that people who live in the country have to accept driving on bad roads, and he noted he often has to plow his wife and himself out of their rural driveway.

“You do give up some convenience of city living by living in the country,” Gabrielson said.

However, Byram countered saying the roads are not private. Homeowners can’t block off the roads in question or make changes to them as a homeowner could a typical driveway. He also pointed out farmers often use Oswald’s road to reach fields.

“She can’t stop people from using it,” he said. “It is a public road.”

Commissioners hinted at a compromise between the township and homeowners, suggesting the property owners contract out the township work.

However, Byram said the two parties had previously been unable to secure a compromise.

“Clearly we could not because we’re here,” Byram said.

Another concern that arose at the meeting was the condition of the roads, particularly the suspicion by county officials that the roads were not built up to the standards outlined in the Conditional Use Permit (CUP).

“They don’t seem like they’re built to the county standards or the township standards,” Gabrielson said.

Roads built in a subdivision must be built to the county’s specifications in case the county or township eventually picks up maintenance charges. Even if the roads aren’t built to the standards outlined in the CUP, Assistant County Attorney Jeremy Clinefelter said that should have no standing on the board’s decision.

The suspected CUP violation is a separate issue the board will now address.

“Now that the county is aware that you have a potential violation of the CUP, the county is obligated to pursue that,” Clinefelter said.

Byram said he was disappointed the board seemed to change its focus from meeting to meeting.

“I don’t know what became important to the commissioners between then and now,” Byram said. “It just seems to me there was a sea change in their comments.”

Since the incident is in his 1st District, Gabrielson turned over chairmanship of the board to Commissioner Mike Ankeny, so Gabrielson could act more directly in the proceedings. However, he did not turn over chairmanship during the first meeting Nov. 8.

According to Byram, the homeowners haven’t decided what to do next.