Dear Property Owners,

This letter is to report on several issues the LMRPOA Board is addressing.  We have obtained a complete insurance package for the coming year, including directors and officer’s liability insurance.  As explained in my earlier letter, our 2004 D & O insurer refused to renew our policy due to the costs they incurred in the last few years responding to owner’s lawsuit threats about trails and roads.  Despite this, our insurance costs for the year are only $800 over budget and $1600 higher than in 2004, although the D&O insurance now has a $1000 deductible.

At the recommendation of the attorney retained by the insurance company to respond to the threatened lawsuit concerning road conditions, we commissioned a study by a civil engineering firm to recommend maintenance and improvements to ensure that the community’s roads are safe and economically viable.  This study cost $3600.

A copy of the engineering study is enclosed.  It recommends near term signage and drainage improvements and lists longer term improvements including adding base material and widening the roads to 18 feet in the few places that our roads are narrower.  Speed limit signs at 15 mph are recommended as well as signs to yield at the one-way bridges and warning signs for sharp turns.

As far as paving the roads, the report states that based on our low traffic volumes it would appear more cost effective to maintain the gravel roadways than to pave them.  If we choose to pave the roads, the report recommends modifying the roadway profiles (cutting down hills) to conform with higher speeds on the roads, and designing each roadway to be in accordance with the Yavapai County design guidelines for community roads.  In addition to modifying profiles, this would require widening roads and placing six inches of base materials on all roads.  This Board will only consider paving the community roads when a majority of the parcel owners are in favor of paving.

The Board believes that the signage and drainage recommendations in the engineering report should be implemented soon.  We estimate these will cost about $34,000 or $515 per lot.  If completed this year, a special assessment will be required.

The Board also thinks that additional base material should be placed on the roads.  We have sent out a RFQ asking for bids to place three inches of additional material on all roads.  Only two bids have been received, both from large construction firms.  The lowest bid was $373,000.  This bid is roughly twice the cost of the lowest bid received last year.  These bids are higher due to increased material and fuel costs as well as the many other construction projects in the county that are keeping contractors busy.  It is quite possible that if we spread out the base improvement work over a longer period we could get smaller contractors to bid at a lower cost and could schedule work during periods when fewer other projects are underway.

Several possibilities exist for phasing the base improvement work including:

·        Place three inches of material this year at $373,000 or $5651 per lot

·        Phase the placement of additional material over several years with the possibility of lower overall costs

If the project is conducted over several years it could either be funded with a series of special assessments, or the dues could be increased to cover the expense. 

To implement these improvements may require a special assessment.  Our lawyer has informed us that our current CC&R’s do not allow the owners to vote to approve a special assessment. They tell us that only the Board can make such decisions.  You were recently asked to approve a CC&R change that would have given this responsibility to the property owners, but the vote was 34 FOR and 22 AGAINST, less than the 50 votes needed to approve the change.

Nonetheless, this Board is committed to obtaining your views on how this work should be phased over time, and if it should be done by special assessment or built into the dues structure.  A survey card is enclosed soliciting your views on these projects and their phasing.  Please return the survey before June 15, 2005.  

We understand that you will probably find the cost of this work surprising, given that you were asked last fall by the previous Board to approve a $6800 special assessment to chip seal all the roads.  The cost of this previous proposal was unrealistically low because it did not include any drainage or base material improvements.  Similar projects have been done in nearby communities, and the surfaces have already failed in many locations.  The Board estimates that the costs for preparing the community’s roads and placing a hard surface following the recommendations in the engineering report will exceed $20,000 per lot.

Please keep in mind that the community roads are currently in much better condition than they were when our lots were first sold.  LMRPOA has spent approximately $2,000 per mile per year for 9 years to maintain and improve these roads.  The work proposed here will result in significant improvements over the current road conditions.

Finally, Scott Robertson has resigned from the Board.  At the June meeting a replacement for Scott, whose term runs until October 2006, will be elected.  Anyone interested in applying for this position should contact me.

Sincerely,

Neil Cooperrider                                             

President, LMRPOA                                                              

(928) 899-3321, neil@cooperrider.org    

 Attachments:    Shephard-Wesnitzer Roads Study - PDF

                        Member Survey - PDF