HOAs should shore up own private roads | EastValleyTribune.com
Great editorial forwarded by Fred Pilot. For years I have been warning people about the looming private infrastructure crisis. Here is Gilbert, AZ, addressing one of the biggest time bombs: private streets. The whole problem is laid out in a couple of paragraphs:

In fact, Gilbert had a policy for years of allowing subdivision developers to build smaller, narrower streets with the understanding that a subsequent HOA would have the legal requirement for maintenance. The arrangement meant developers could devote more space to additional houses or other amenities, while Gilbert reduced its commitment to street construction issues. In the most cases, the actual homeowners weren’t around when these deals were struck. So developers should have made it clear to newly created HOAs that privately owned streets were part of the package. In turn, each HOA’s original board should have established a street maintenance program to be followed, and modified as warranted, by those came along afterward. In many cases that didn’t happen, Markham reported, and homeowners only learned they would have to personally foot the bill when they started asking who was going to deal with the crumbling asphalt. The widespread confusion and headaches for homeowners has prompted Gilbert leaders to stop making such arrangements, Markham reported. Most new residential streets must be built to public standards and handed over to the city. But Gilbert wisely isn’t bailing out HOAs that failed to plan ahead. The city is helping such HOAs to get a break on street repair costs from contractors already doing work on city-owned streets in the area.