S. Elgin OKs maintenance backup plan
Thanks to Fred Pilot for sending this interesting approach used by an Illinois suburb:
SOUTH ELGIN — If the homeowners associations for three developments coming to town don't maintain their roads, green spaces or water detention, the village has an ordinance in place to ensure that such work is paid for in the future.

The village board voted Monday night to require special service areas, or SSAs, for the Parkside Woods, Cambridge Bluffs and Prairie Pointe subdivisions.

The SSAs are merely backups "if the homeowners associations don't do what they are supposed to with infrastructure," said Steve Super, director of community development.

For example, if the Cambridge Bluffs homeowners association does not clean out the storm water storage pipe underneath the development, the village can charge the cost of cleaning directly to those homes, said Village Attorney Derke Price.
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This builds the HOA into the intergovernmental system as a default participant, and one that is actually backed up by the village. This beats the usual approach of just off-loading responsibilities to HOAs and hoping for the best.