Our Statutory Road Association has an EIN, but I wasn't the one who got it so I can't tell you how it was gotten. My impression was that they just had to file the correct application.
There had previously been a non-profit, but it had failed for lack of participation, and when someone tried to resurrect it they discovered that there was an annual fee that was supposed to have been paid to the state, which had not been paid in several years. Reinstating the non-profit would have required not only paying that year's fee and the fee for the missed years, but also a penalty for late payment. We decided it was better to start fresh with just a Statutory Association.