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BISBEE — Problem roads like High Knoll exist throughout the county.
Though Cochise County is dry most of the year, when the monsoon comes roads, whether paved or dirt, can turn into a muddy mess and can restrict ingress and egress as washes become raging torrents of floodwater.
Last year, the concrete spillway across a massive wash was obliterated by flood waters stranding some of the 60 families living off High Knoll Road. For days the only way to cross was to risk life and limb by wading and climbing over huge slabs of concrete. Or they could trust that one of the four-wheel drive ATV’s residents offered to help their neighbors to cross through the mud, sand and powerful flood waters would make it, as reported in the Herald/Review on Aug. 5, 2007.
While High Knoll has been a rather high-profile case of the problems people have in keeping up their roads, or lack thereof, the county is not required to help bring private or “dedicated to the public” roads up to a traversable status. No money can be spent on such roads until they are brought up to county standards, pointed out Benny Young, director of the Cochise County Highway and Floodplain Department in an interview.
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The county already has to stretch limited funds to try to keep public roads safe and traversable. Highway User Revenue Funds (HURF) from the state cannot meet the estimated $9 million and more needed to maintain, resurface and rehabilitate around 1,500 miles of county maintained roads, Young said.
Of those 1,500 miles of roads, 600 miles are paved and 900 miles remain dirt. Of the 900 miles of dirt roads, 550 miles are primitive roads used by the public which were grandfathered in in 1975. There are some 3,000 miles of roads not county maintained, but used by the public, he explained.
“And we not only have no duty to maintain those roads, we do not have the authority to do so,” he added.
So for High Knoll and others like it, the residents must take it upon themselves to grade and repair such roads and deal with drainage.
Though Young was not sure how the county estimate of $1 million to bring the road up to county standards was reached, as stated by Neal Galt, a High Knoll resident and spokesman, the sum sounded about right when the all-weather crossing is factored in. Residents could form a road improvement district to deal only with that crossing for now. But, Young thought a bridge long enough to make a secure and safe crossing would cost around $500,000. He’s not sure the Bailey Bridge that Galt and other residents are researching would be a feasible idea for that particular crossing.
The residents could also choose a less expensive option of installing culverts and then covering them with concrete, he added. That would allow access most of the time, but during heavy rain or flooding events they still could be in the same situation of not being able to cross the huge wash.
“We’d be glad to sit down and talk with them about an all-weather crossing. And set up a project that could be done in phases,” Young said. “We just haven’t had the chance to do that.”
District 1County Supervisor Pat Call said, “There are many, many road issues in the 6,200 square miles of this county. However, I would put High Knoll Road in the top 10 list for the most serious and the most difficult (expensive) to address.”
Galt contacted Call, saying he got no response from Supervisor Paul Newman, who represents District 2, which contains High Knoll Road.
“That’s when I became directly involved,” Call said. “I’ve supplied names and addresses of property owners in the High Knoll area to facilitate Mr. Galt pulling together a community group to deal with the issue. I facilitated a meeting with (Bureau of Land Management) to explore the possibility of using an emergency route through the riparian area. And, finally, I have offered to speak with members of the community to explore the realities of the issue, limitations and possible solutions.”
One of the problems Call sees right now is getting as many community members involved as possible.
“It is a very diverse community and, apparently, getting them together is proving difficult,” he added.
But, a greater obstacle lies with the BLM and Department of the Interior who now say High Knoll Road belongs to the federal government, and no right of way for an access road to the development was granted. Call is helping to research that issue.
Call offered this advice to prospective buyers: “If the road is not a county-maintained road, then the obvious due diligence for a buyer would be to determine whether there is legal access (either private or public) to the property. And don’t take anything for granted. Research it. If the road is not maintained by the county, don’t assume it will be someday ... regardless of what you are told.
“Lastly, if it is a non-maintained dirt road, you can assume that, sooner or later, it will have maintenance issues — possibly very serious issues, particularly during our monsoon season.”
As for buyers who say they were not informed about non-county maintained roads leading to their land, as Galt contends, Arizona Statute 33-422 is very clear as to the obligation and duty of sellers and Realtors to disclose a great deal of information about land purchased.
The status of roads outside of city limits and in rural areas must be disclosed according to the statute in the form of an affidavit from the seller to the buyer. This document addresses issues including legal access, road maintenance, floods and floodplains, zoning deficiencies and more. It lets the buyer know what to expect when the land is purchased, according to the Arizona Association of Realtors Web site. The buyer also is required to sign it affirming these issues are acknowledged.
Brokers and real estate agents must inform the buyer, or the state sees it as a “breech of duty” and they would be held liable for any damages, warns the AAR Web site.
Mary Utley, public information officer for the Arizona Department of Real Estate, noted that even though updates to the statute have been made over the years, affidavits of disclosure concerning roadways, floodplains and other important information have been required by the seller for over 20 years.
David Greenberg has been in the land business for 30 years and knows the importance of the disclosure affidavit. Now working as the general manager of the RE/MAX office in Bisbee in addition to his LANDMAN realty company, the broker/agent emphasized in an interview, “We do disclose the condition and accessibility of roads — several times in the process. We are required to do so by Arizona law. We tell them if it’s a county maintained road or non-county maintained road and whether or not the road is passible for emergency vehicles.”
Greenberg related an incident in which a dissatisfied buyer went before the Cochise County Board of Supervisors and “swore up and down” that the Realtor had lied and told him a road was county maintained. Greenberg was the Realtor and attended the meeting with the man’s signed contract and required signed affidavit of disclosure. It clearly stated it was not a county maintained roadway. He showed it to the supervisors at the end of the meeting.
“Sometimes they just forget or sometimes they just lie,” added Greenberg. “It’s too bad for the people of High Knoll. I know it’s a bad road. Still, it’s hard to feel sorry for them. They have had 20 years to set up a road maintenance fund.”
As an aside, Greenberg remembered a dam had been proposed on the San Pedro River near High Knoll around 30 years ago. The 15-mile lake that would have resulted from building the dam would also have offered lake views to the development now known as High Knoll. Environmental and ecological concerns halted the proposal.
What Arizona's law says:
“A seller of five or fewer parcels of land, other than subdivided land, in an unincorporated area of a county and any subsequent seller of such a parcel shall furnish a written affidavit of disclosure to the buyer, at least seven days before the transfer of the property, and the buyer shall acknowledge receipt of the affidavit.
“The seller shall record the executed affidavit of disclosure at the same time that the deed is recorded. The county recorder is not required to verify the accuracy of any statement in the affidavit of disclosure. A subsequently-recorded affidavit supercedes any previous affidavit.
“If access to the parcel is not traversable by emergency vehicles, the county and emergency service providers may not be held responsible for any damage resulting from the inability to traverse the access to provide needed services.”
— excerpts from Arizona Revised Statute 33-422
Herald/Review reporter Shar Porier can be reached at 515-4692 or by e-mail at shar.porier@bisbeereview.net.
Miller Canyon Res. wrote on Aug 18, 2008 8:37 PM: