Mr. Blakley,
I was referred to you by one of your colleagues.
I have a question about Viewmont Road, just outside of Asheboro in the Dave's Mountain neighborhood. I am curious as to why its distal/far end and attached cul-de-sacs have not been/were not ever picked up for state maintenance.
The roads beyond state maintenance are in horrible condition after being built to "minimum standards" years ago (one of the road-builders is now an Asheboro City Councilman). The developers, home & road-builders shrug off responsibility and have not maintained the road or done repairs.
I have heard several conflicting versions of how a road is accepted for maintenance - and why Viewmont and its distal tributaries have been neglected for so long.
I would like to meet with you in person to hear it directly from "the horse's mouth". I will be home/in Asheboro during the last week of January and would like to schedule a meeting with you in Asheboro then. I want you to see some of these roads.
Please feel free to call or e-mail to schedule the meeting.
In the interest of full disclosure, please be advised that (1) I am a blogger, (2) we on Dave's Mtn are preparing for another annexation battle with the City of Asheboro, and (3) I plan to disclose what you tell me to my readers - and my neighbors.
Mary H. Johnson, M.D.
www.drjshousecalls.blogspot.com
On January 21st, I got a response:
Dr. Mary Johnson,
This is in response to an email you sent on January 16, 2009.
If a subdivision road is intended to be taken over by the North Carolina Department of Transportation construction plans must be approved by our office and the roadways must meet minimum standards at the time of addition. Minimum standards would include the road being satisfactorily maintained and having an occupied housing density of at least 2 homes per a tenth of a mile with a minimum of four homes. For more details of what is required you can reference the attached links to the "Subdivision Roads: Minimum Construction Standards, January , 2000" manual and General Statute 136-102.6.
http://www.ncdot.org/doh/preconstruct/altern/value/manuals/newsubdiv02-15-05.pdf
http://www.ncga.state.nc.us/EnactedLegislation/Statutes/HTML/BySection/Chapter_136/GS_136-102.6.html
Specifically, concerning Viewmont Drive an inspection was done by this office in 1999. See attached correction letter mailed to Ms. Billie Wilson on April 14, 1999. This letter outlines items that must be corrected in order for the roads in question to be considered for addition. Keep in mind if maintenance of a road is neglected it will deteriorate and the cost to rehabilitate can be very expensive.
If you feel the items on the April 14, 1999 letter have been satisfactorily corrected we will need a completed SR-1 addition petition (attached) along with the necessary documentation as stated on the back of the petition for each road that is being requested to be added to the state system for maintenance in order to proceed with a final investigation and the remainder of the addition process.
The petition can be completed by the developer or by the property owners along the roadway. If the property owners complete the petition we do request that all property owners that have driveway access to the respective road sign the petition for addition.
Keep in mind from the NCDOT's standpoint it is the developer's responsibility to properly maintain the roadway until at which time the state takes it over for maintenance. As stated in General Statute 136-102.6, "Final acceptance by the Division of Highways of such public streets and placing them on the State highway system for maintenance shall be conclusive proof that the streets have been constructed according to the minimum standards of the Board of Transportation."
I hope this has helped answer your questions.
I will be glad to meet you on site to discuss further.
Reuben Blakley, P.E.
District Engineer
Division 8/District 1
300 Country Club Drive
PO Box 1164
Asheboro, NC 27204
office 336-629-1423
fax 336-629-7228
Here is the text of a 1999 letter he attached . . . from the DOT to Billie Wilson:
April 14, 1999
Randolph County
Ms. Billie Wilson
Wilson Realty & Construction
428 South Fayetteville Street
Asheboro, N.C. 27203
Subject: Correction letter for Viewmont Drive Ext., Viewmont Court, Wilson Drive, Wilson Court, Berrie Place and Woodside Place in Laurelwood Estates and Redding Woods Subdivision.
Ms. Wilson,
In response to your request to add these streets to the State Secondary Road System, personnel assigned to this office have investigated the above subject streets in the Laurelwood Estates and Redding Wood Subdivision. The following is offered for your consideration:
Viewmont Drive Extension - with a re-recorded plat of 60 ft right of way:
1. All trees or undergrowth (including overhanging trees) should be removed form the right of way.
2. Lot # 13 has two (2) large trees and several ornamental bushes that should be moved away from the right of way. This lot has also has some black plastic driveway pipe (at the lower drive) that needs to be replaced with 15” RCP or CMP.
3. Lot # 14 has two (2) large trees at driveway entrance which need to be moved away from the right of way.
4. Lot #42 has a brick mailbox that needs to be removed and several trees (approximately 5), which should be removed from the right of way.
5. Lot #35 has a large boulder at driveway entrance that needs to be removed.
6. This street has a large pothole which should be patched with asphalt, and several depressions which should be patched level with existing pavement.
Viewmont Court
1. Lot # ? (this would be the first house on the right on the cul-de-sac as you are entering) has a brick mailbox which needs to be removed.
2. Lot # 14 has a brick mailbox which needs to be removed and approximately eight (8) trees at the mailbox which should be removed from the right of way. This lot also has a couple of large trees at the intersection of Viewmont Court and Viewmont Drive which should be moved away from the right of way at both streets.
Wilson Drive
1. This road needs to be resurfaced with 1 ½” I-2 surface.
2. All trees and underbrush (including overhanging trees) need to be removed from the right of way.
Woodside Place
1. This street should be swept of loose gravel and dirt and should be resurfaced approximately 125’ from edge of pavement of Viewmont Dr. Ext. up Woodside Place. The new pavement need to be super-elevated in order to properly channel the water into the ditch; then retrograde shoulder to proper typical section and reestablish ground cover.
2. Lot #9 has a brick mailbox that needs to be removed.
Wilson Court and Berrie Place
These streets do not meet the required home density needed for addition to the State system.
If required, Department of Transportation personnel can meet on site to clarify and locate these problems.
Upon completion of the above items or if additional information is needed, please contact this office at 336-629-1423.
Yours very truly,
J.L. Pickleimer, P.E.,P.L.S.
District Engineer
cc: Mr. W.F. Rosser
Mr. R.T. McManus, Jr.
Hammond & Hammond, Attorneys at Law (Representing John Redding’s Estate)
This is all very, very interesting. I have already forwarded the e-mail to several Dave's Mtn. residents, and will shortly mail copies to all of the residents on these streets.
Billie Wilson/the other developers could sell the houses and the lots (and the powers-that-be, charged with oversight, let them keep right on doing it). But she/they did not maintain the roads until the state could pick them up.
Now we're supposed to be grateful that the city of Asheboro will annex us. Or we're supposed to do it ourselves. I'm not sure why I'm paying anybody taxes at this point.
I don't know about my neighbors, but I am sick and tired of being screwed over by the powers-that-be in this town/county.
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