Joann Wallace wrote:I really do need help in getting this organized.  Thank you.

I'm really sorry about this. Have you downloaded the MARA manual? What specific question did you ask? I can't find the topic dated 10-19.

If you look on the home page there is a "Leadership Manual" tab. Click on that and it will be there, and you can print it out.

Alanna Brown wrote:Does anybody ( who is willing to sign their name to a response) know what "benefited" by a private road etc. means exactly?

It means that you use it to your benefit. You need to get somewhere it takes you.

Ray Ronan wrote:Put another way, if you have land on a private road, but NO driveway or other access to that road you do NOT benefit from the private road as you don't really use it for anything.  Once a driveway is built (usually linked to a structure of some sort) and traffic starts to use the private road that is a benefit. 

I don't think so.  The statute reads:

When 4 or more parcels of land are benefited by a private road, private way or bridge as an easement or by fee ownership of the private road, private way or bridge, [...]

That is, we don't need to speculate about what is meant by "benefited by", because the statute tells us exactly what is meant: "benefited [...] as an easement or by fee ownership".  That is, if you have an easement (right-of-way) to access the road, or if you own all or part of it, then this means you.  It does not matter if you have a driveway or not

Ray Ronan wrote:Hi Todd,  Gotta disagree (in a friendly way LOL).  If a landowner has land on the road but nothing else and there is no activity then it is hard to see what benefit the landowner has.  I do agree with the 4 or more parcels bit - clearly spelled out in the law.  If the landowner sells the lot, and the new owner puts up a house, they will have to pay the owner of the road a fee for access (driveway) to the road and then I see a benefit.  That's my story and I'm sticking to it LOL.

Even if one doesn't actually use the road, land which is accessible by a road is certainly more useful and valuable than land which is not accessible by a road.  Not that that really matters -- the statute defines the association as consisting of those parcels which either (a) own (all or part of) the road, or (b) have an easement over the road.  That's it. Period.

Now, whether an owner ought to be assessed anything if they do not use the road, such as the owner of a unimproved lot, or a lot accessible from another road, is a matter for the association to decide.  Personally, I think even an unimproved parcel ought to be assessed something, even if it's a very small token amount.  But your association, in its discretion, may decide to charge nothing.

There is no discretion concerning which parcels are part of the association, however.  The law is the law.