We are a 68 member road association on the coast with 1 1/2 miles of roads. One dead end gravel road abuts a marsh. The road serves as access to three houses. In the last two years, there have been three storms where the road flooded and was impassable at high tide. There was a large amount of debris in the road after the tide receded. After each occurrence, the association cleared the debris the next day and brought in gravel to repair the road at a cost of about $1,500 each time.

My question: Does the association have an obligation to make changes to address rising sea level which would involve raising the road and most likely installing a rip rap buffer. We estimate costs for engineering fees, permitting and the actual work to be a $50,000 or $75,000 project (a $1,200+ special assessment for each member).

This would, of course, be a project that would need to be approved by the membership, but I am anticipating push back from some of the 65 members who do not live along the marsh.

While the issue has not been addressed directly with the membership yet, we are getting a sense that the three members with houses on that road assume it is a road association problem to resolve.

Does anyone have experience with this issue?