But what the road really needs is a complete overall. However, Williams said the $15,000 price tag is beyond what the homeowners can afford. “It’s just a big worry. How are we going to get this road fixed?”
Williams, along with a quick survey of the other 22 residents on Circle Ginny, “didn’t know” property owners would be directly responsible for repairing the street. Since she still pays property taxes, Williams said she wants the city to help with the resurfacing or allow them to petition for Circle Ginny to be resurfaced through a tax assessment.
“It is still just a Band-Aid for what needs to be done because you think over time the streets are going to deteriorate and the streets will cost a lot more than we are taking in to maintain them,” Williams said.
However, the city has mounting repairs of its own it can ill-afford and Public Works Director Dave Duritsch said he cannot use public dollars to complete a private road project.
“If the roadway were within (a) private development such as an apartment complex, that is internal roadwork and the city would not be paving those areas. The same would apply here,” Duritsch said.
The same would apply to any other development with a roadway where the residents are also the property owners, such as a condominium complex, he said.
Residents on Circle Kelly Jo Street right next to Circle Ginny have not been as fortunate. There is no homeowners’ association to collect funding for street repairs on this private drive. With a mixture of renters and homeowners living there, what is clear by the crumbling payment is no one is taking responsibility for maintenance.
Large cracks spider across the street, broken up by massive potholes. The largest, a more than 10-foot-wide crater dubbed the “recreational pool” sits just outside Casie Hoffman’s driveway.
“We pay city taxes,” she said. “I call the city but it doesn’t do no good.”
Her neighbor, Bill Seitter, said he’s lived on Circle Kelly Jo for 10 years. Much of that time, the road was fine and the homeowners took equal responsibility in filling in the road cracks. But when he tried to rally everyone together to make $25,000 in repairs, “no one wanted any of it.”
And while the city has been known to fine residents for junk cars and tall grass on Circle Kelly Jo, Seitter said they turn a blind eye to the road problems.
“We have no rights. They still collect our taxes but they don’t fix our roads,” he said.
“It’s not just here. It’s all over Middletown,” Seitter added.
A citywide issue
Residents agree crumbling roadways are less of a private drive problem as one plaguing Middletown as a whole.
Only 2.6 percent of the city’s more than $30 million budget is designated for roadwork. Duritsch said he’s been leveraging the $800,000 budgeted for street repairs with state and federal grant funds to maintain Middletown’s 600 lane miles of roadways. However, to bring all the city’s public streets to “good” condition in the next 20 years, Duritsch said he’d need $3 million annually.
“Infrastructure at some point gets beyond the need for patching to keep it up,” Duritsch said. “We are dealing with that on the public roadways.”
Looking for new ways to fund such projects led the city to launch a new program this year where residents can petition the city to repair their road. However, they’ll also be assessed the cost via their property taxes if the petition is approved.
Unless you live on a private drive.
The only way the city would take over maintenance of a private drive would be to have the road brought up to the city’s standards. This would have to be done at the property owners’ expense, Duritsch said.
Right now, Circle Kelly Jo and Circle Ginny are 22 feet wide. Middletown requires a width of 29 feet with curbs and gutters, said Scott Tadych, a Public Works assistant engineer.
Privatizing roadways
Most communities around the state sport at least a few private drives. The majority can be found in condo and apartment complexes. In Middletown, there are three other private drives — Sir Gregory Way, Deer Creek and Deer Run, Tadych said.
“It’s nothing unique. Almost every community has (a private) roadway,” Tadych said.
There are some advantages to municipalities by having private drives. Homeowners are still required to pay property taxes but no funds are expended by the city to repair those roads or provide services such as snow removal.
Mary Beth Ferree, treasurer of the Circle Ginny Homeowners’ Association, said they pay about $1,000 — essentially all of the annual dues collection — to plow the roadway.
But because of the potential problems that can arise, Tadych said the city now requires a homeowners’ association be set up to maintain the road if any new development creates private drives. Circle Kelly Jo was developed in the 1970s, before the requirement.
Even with the benefits to the city, Duritsch said he doesn’t think the city would show any favoritism if a developer wanted to create private drives. He said it would be up to the developer and the homeowners to make that “judgment call” and weigh the costs of paying property taxes in addition to association dues.
The privatizing of roadways is being heavily considered by governments looking to upgrade or replace aging infrastructure by partnering with private players.
Ohio Gov. John Kasich is trying to rally support to lease the 241-mile Ohio Turnpike, which was included in his finalized budget. It’s an idea that was talked about during the previous administration and earlier studies suggest the state could generate between $1 billion to $6 billion in concession fees for the turnpike.
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