HomeMy WebLinkAboutC.054.93010_0206condition of the road was a deterrent for buyers. Cloer also shared a form letter from the postal
service stating that all roads used by mail carriers needed to be in "passable condition." (One
unidentified audience member mentioned that school buses did not travel on the roads. Cloer said,
however, the Head Start bus traveled on them.)
Commissioner Fortner asked how many property owners were in the area.
Cloer said there were actually 42 and 40 had use of the road. (The other two properties face
Airport Road and do not use the roads.) He said 39 out of the 40 had signed. The individual that
did not sign indicated to Cloer that he might sign, if he knew the cost.
Mr. Cloer said that if approved by the commissioners, a 60 -foot right-of-way had to be
obtained by the state.
Fortner asked Cloer if he knew why there was such a difference in the cost estimates.
Cloer said he did not know. He said there were "four bids" and they were: $125,000,
$96,000, $57,600, and $56,084. Cloer said he talked to a state engineer and was given a rough
telephone estimate of between $ 70,000-$80,000 for eight -tenths of a mile. lie said this would be
to enlarge the road up to 18 -feet in width, prepare the ditches, place six inches of gravel, lay an inch
and a half of black top, and sow the ditches.
Commissioner Johnson asked Mr. Cloer if he had bids or estimates.
Cloer said estimates.
Commissioner Bowles said he understood there were many roads that were built between the
1975 state cut-off date for recognition of dirt roads for state maintenance, and the 1989 date when
Iredell County started requiring developers to build roads that met the state specifications. Bowles
said similar requests had been made in the past. Mr. Bowles asked the county manager to find out
how many private roads were in the county and to give a cost estimate on the per foot expense for
improvements.
The county manager acknowledged a precedent would be set ifthe county assisted in private
road improvements.
Cloer said Jim Rand, with the North Carolina Department of Transportation, had mentioned
there were at least 100 private roads. Mr. Cloer said, however, that Rand had just given this as
an estimate, and "he wasn't positive about it."
MOTION by Commissioner Bowles to request the county manager to consult with the N.C.
Department of Transportation Engineer to determine how many miles of dirt road were located in
the county and to share a cost estimate on how much money would be needed to bring the roads
up to state standards for maintenance.
Commissioner Johnson said if there were 100 roads, it would cost $5 million to $6 million
to improve them. He reminded the group that it was strongly recommended by the state for each
county keep a percentage of its annual budget as cash on hand. He said that as a consequence, there
was not that much money for the commissioners to use. He said the estimated five or six million
could soon "out run the county's finances."
Cloer said the money could be assessed through the property owners' taxes.
Johnson said his concern was that at the onset of any road paving program, too much money
could go out faster than what was paid back. He said that if the county started paving too many
roads in the beginning without some long-term financial plan, that within a year or so, the county
could be in "dire -financial straits." Johnson said that if the county pursued the assessments some