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Maine Alliance for Road Associations

Snow removal dilemma

  • 09 Sep 2024 4:59 PM
    Message # 13404410

    Greetings, does anyone have any suggestions/tips or previous experience with gaining buy-in with association members to contribute to snow removal for their main camp road?

    I have made a list of advantages/disadvantages to snow removal to have access to camps in the winter months:

    ADVANTAGES TO PLOWING THE ROAD:

    - Access when trees fall on your camp or power lines

    - Power lines are repaired and restored in a timely manner

    - Tree removal on camp road which is necessary for camp owners to access their camp and/or for the power company to gain access along the power line

    - Emergency access

    - All owners are benefited by having road access to their property

    ADVANTAGES TO NOT PLOWING THE ROAD:

    - Discourages thieves from potentially breaking into camps

    - Saves money by not contributing

    Our 3 mile wooded, gravel road which is the only access road to all the camps is maintained by the homeowner’s association (56 camps in the association).  However, the road is owned and managed by AFM (American Forest Management), which lumbers in the area every 10 years or so.  We are not a statutory/non-statutory road association.  When the leased lots were sold by Champion Paper Co in 2002 to the camp owners (Champion sold to AFM after 2002), covenants were attached to each camp owner’s deed that annual dues to maintain the road would be set by the homeowners association at annual meetings.  There is a stipulation in the covenant, that no monies collected for road maintenance can be used for snow plowing.  Snow plowing has been a moot point because there was only one year-round resident who lived in the very last camp and he plowed the road.  Sometimes camp owners passed him a few bucks every now and then but no formal payment/contribution arrangement was ever organized.  Now there are a handful of year round residents and the gentleman who plowed moved away a couple of years ago.

    Disagreements are starting to boil over whether or not something should be done about paying for plowing, either formally or informally.

    Would be curious to hear other folks experience with this issue and how it was addressed.

    Thank you.

                            The Maine Alliance for Road Associations


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