Use of Easement Onto Private Roadway for a Neighborhood Improvement District

[Wkendwarr]

My question involves an easement in the state of: Missouri

Homeowners Association maintains a private roadway via assessments. There are 37 properties (roughly 3 acre each) that share the roadway from the subdivision and 3 properties that are not part of the subdivision but have easements to use the road to gain access to their property.

Because of the cost associated with maintaining the roadway the homeowners association has petitioned the county for establishing a NID (Neighborhood Improvement District). The county will pave the road and maintain it and the property owners will bear the cost via an assessment.

The 3 properties that are not part of the subdivision was at 1 time a 32.35acre tract that the original owner had their primary residence on and enter and exited via a paved driveway to the private road constructed for the subdivision. The original owner of this 32.35 acres was also the owner of the property that the subdivision sits on but sold off to a developer. This developer granted a single easement to the property (32.35 acres) onto the new private roadway. The owner of that property has since subdivided the property and sold their primary residence with 3.77 acres of the original 32.35 acres. A new easement to the remaining land was established in between two of the subdivision parcels (even though this property had direct access without having to go through the two parcels)and the owner put up a pole barn and brought in a Mobile home as a residence on this property. This easement caused many problems with the homeowners of the two parcels due to late night teenage excursions. One of the homeowners of these two parcels approached the owner of the remaining 28.58 acres and purchased 4.01 acres adjoining their land. This 4 acre now uses the established easement for access since the new owner has not combined his original 3 lot (subdivision plot) and the new 4 acres.

The remaining 24.57 now has an easement onto the private roadway anywhere along his property that touches the roadway (approximately 600 ft. of road frontage)and the owner established a driveway off the road back to the primary residence Mobil home. The owner has since moved out of the mobile home and has sold off the 24.57 acres that had remained to a new owner who uses the property not as a residence but as a playground for four wheeling and recreation.

When petitioning for the NID the boundaries were defined as any property with frontage and uses of the roadway be included in the NID. The 24.57 acres is contesting being part of the NID saying they are not part of the subdivision and only have an easement to their property. They do not reside there and will receive no benefit from the new county roadways. Since the property with the 3.77 is used as a residence and will benefit from the county maintain roadway they are included. The 4.01 piece of property purchased will also benefit from the new roadway since it is essentially part of the owners other parcel in the subdivision.

After all this history my question is can this piece a property be legally excluded from this NID because of a easement?

[LandSurveyor]

Do the owners of the 24.57 acre parcel contribute anything currently to the maintenance of the private road?

With that amount of acreage and road frontage, I would think that it might be development property. If so, why would they not want to be a part of the NID?

[Wkendwarr]

No the owner of that property does not pay any mainenance on the roadways because they are not a part of the subdivision and do not pay any annual assesment to the HOA however they do utilize the roadway to get to their property. They also have 600 ft of road frontage.

They currently utilize the property for recreation (4 wheeler, time away from things, etc ). The owner is not wanting to be in the NID because it would mean either a 1 time charge of $10,000 - $12,500 (depending on final road upgrade cost) or if he doesn't pay lump sum about $700-$800 a year county assessment over 20 years to pay for the bonds.

[LandSurveyor]

My understanding of NID's is that the resulting projects (in your case a road) become public. Is a public road what is desired?

[Wkendwarr]

That is correct, once the road is upgraded it will become a public county road.

[LandSurveyor]

Looks like the owners are going to have a windfall benefit of 600' of public road frontage.

But you really can't get an NID going without your own legal counsel. Perhaps there will be some specific advice about forcing the participation of the adjoiner. With access to a public road, they won't need an easement and won't have the restrictions on development which go along with an easement.

[Wkendwarr]

The NID was being done with the assistance of the county.

Last night the county council brought the Bill for the NID to a vote. There was a initial amendment to exclude the 25 acres citing that the owner will receive no benefit with the new county road (They did not bring up about the value of the property going up being on a paved county maintained road).

The county lawyer added a clause that should the property owner subdivides the property or build a permanent residence on the property he would be liable for reimbursing the shared cost of upgrade of the roadway with regards to the NID... County Council Vote will take place in 2 weeks to approve on the amendments.

I see this as a partial win but still would of preferred to see him fully included in the NID since my cost will increase because he has been let out of it...

[LandSurveyor]

Sounds like the county lawyer was on top of the situation. The land will likely be developed at some point in the future, entitling you to some reimbursement.