Roberta, thank you for your second response!!!!!!!
I will address each paragraph:
1) The Rental property is now under construction. At first the Board asked for and received from a majority vote at the annual meeting, authorization to bill them annually at 5 times the rate of the equal pay individual rate ( $500 x 5= $2500!!!!!). SCRA was threatened by a lawsuit, and a special meeting was called to void the original 5x and to accept a 2x in place. It was approved.
2) I am still foggy about "appurtenant" and the limit of my ROW. If I can paraphrase your explanation: My ROW ends at the beginning of the narrowing section of the road beyond the 50 foot width. The 50 foot width, however, continues 332 feet beyond my property line. And would not my ROW on SCR end at my property line? According to Hermansen (his first line in my attachment above) : "under the common law generally recognized by most states an easement holder may use an appurtenant easement only for the benefit of the appurtenant parcel.."
I appreciate your further clarification and apologize for the imposition.
3&4) Your quote: "But why should the owner of the tenth lot have to pay $100, when most of the wear and tear on the rest of the road is due to use by others?"
The owner at the end of the road pays the same amount as each owner pays for the amount of road they use. the guy at the end uses lets say 100 feet, the guy at the beginning uses 10 feet in your example. Each pays $1 per foot of road used. In my situation of equal pay, I am paying $1.94 per foot the owner at the end of the road pays $.07 per foot.
Your quote: "Now that may look relatively simple to figure out, but how do you do the calculations for each owner when the lots are different sizes, so that each section of road each owner uses represents a different percentage of the length of the road?"
Although the lots are different sizes, it is not a determining factor. The spreadsheet attachment in my first query is quite revealing. Everyone's driveway was measured from Webbs Mills Road. From there the calculation is simple: Add all the driveway distances; then each individual driveway distance is divided by that number; then multiply each answer for each driveway by 100 to give you the percentage of road that each driveway uses. That percentage when multiplied by the total budget for maintenance is each owner's bill. Please see the attached spreadsheet I have attached. On the spreadsheet there are hidden columns for the sake of keeping the page readable. It shows a comparison to the current equal pay and the pay by distance method. Very simple, and since the road is linear, the pay by driveway distance is the fairest method: The more road that is used the more one should pay, and vice versa.....
Seasonality is already factored into the road calculations. Although, from a friend at another association which does not distinguish seasonality based on the fact that if there was a fire threatening a summer home in the winter, then keeping the road clear of snow should also be part of their fee.
5) Your quote: "Another factor to consider is the value that you are getting. It looks like the dues you are being asked to pay are comparable to what it would cost just for snow removal on the length of road you use. (The plow contractor on our road charges $250 to plow a 100 foot driveway for the season.) Yet presumably you get summer maintenance as well."
Unfortunately, the value i am getting is negative. Maybe it would cost $600 dollars per year if I were to pay by myself. But I am not by myself, there are 30 other users to my 228 foot road. $600 dollars is looking to be my bill (and everyone else's bill) this year. The real value goes to the owner at the end of the road who would have to pay $6,000 dollars for plowing.
6) It is a shame that court fees and mediation fees are necessary to deal with these road problems. There was less trouble before 3101. The state should have free mediation to deal with all the known and unknown troubles, especially as statute clarifications become even more problematic.
Also, I believe that mediation would be exempt for 3101 cases since the representative for an association has no authority to make decisions for the owners. I may be wrong, though.
7) In order to put a driveway to Webbs Mills Road (Rt85) I would first need to get approval from the state (because it is a state road). If approved, I would then need approval from the town. I have already asked the town if they would approve a driveway if the state said yes. They said no: I have to use the existing access point (SCR). A variance would be needed, and that may be a consideration.
I am researching what I need to do in order to bring this to court at a minimal cost as well as without having to hire an attorney. At $300+ per hour........ I am 73, retired and living on a fixed income, cannot qualify for free legal aid...... so I fight on.
Thank You, agian your insight and everyone's is enlightening.