Fairways West Road Update: Repairs will not begin until after June 20, 2016

As you probably know, we (Fairways West HOA) do not own the roads in our neighborhood. Our sub roads (as well as most subs in Canton) are owned by Wayne County. Unfortunately, Canton subdivision roads are not high on the priority list of the Wayne County budget. Last year, however, Wayne County gave Canton Twp a $2 million grant to be used towards the subdivision roads. As you can imagine, $2M doesn't go that far when you’re fixing/replacing roads. Each sub could enter a "raffle" and request up to $200,000 as long as they contributed 20% to the total. Fairways west requested the maximum amount, and we were one of the subs chosen in the raffle. After that was complete, Wayne County gave a smaller grant to Canton Twp, and again, we requested and received the maximum amount. This time, we received $106,250.

At this point, Wayne County has contributed $245,000, and FW has contributed $61,250. In addition, the HOA board agreed to add another $68,250 to the total. If you do the math, our "pot" is $374,500 ($245,000 from WC and $129,500 from FW). The money contributed by FW was taken from our "reserves" which was accumulated over the years from your annual dues.

Canton Township has done the legwork of gathering bids and awarding the work to the low bidder (Florence Concrete). This was a requirement so that we could receive the best price, instead of each sub bidding out small jobs. We have not been able to provide much input on the process, as it was dictated by Canton Twp. We are being told however, that the work will begin after June 20th because the Twp does not want to disrupt any school bus traffic by closing/blocking off subdivision roads. We do not know yet where our sub is on the list, but all work is supposed to be completed this summer.

That's the good news. The bad news is that $374,500 is not nearly enough to do all the work that we need to do in our subdivision. The board has agreed to replace all 4 entrances into the subdivision (Madison/Beck, Torrington/Beck, Glengary/Beck and Woodward/Cherry Hill), as well as repair intersections and small road sections based on traffic patterns and need as determined by Canton Twp. Unfortunately, when all is said and done, our roads will be better, but not completely fixed.

At this point, the only way that we know to completely repair all the issues, would be to have the neighbors vote on a special assessment for the additional monies required. This assessment would then be added to our property taxes over the next 10 years. Basically, we would be borrowing money from Canton Twp, and each resident would be responsible for paying it back over time. The board would like to wait and see how far the current $374,500 will go before asking the residents to approve an assessment.