LBCA ROADWORKS PROJECT

The LBCA owns 2.5 miles of private roads within the community. These roads are what protects the privacy of our beaches. If the roads were no private, they would be public roads and that would provide access to our private beaches. Cars can park on public roads whereas public parking is prohibited on our private roads. The majority of property owners in our community live on public (county) roads and have covenants attached to their deeds that stipulate the legal obligation to pay fees for the private roads. The original fees were established with the inception of our community in the late 30’s and had never increased in over 80 years. The income generated by road fees was inadequate and made it impossible for the LBCA to meet the obligation to maintain the private roads. In 2022 the road fees were raised using the CPI, and by the end of the year enough money was raised to begin planning.

The Board hired a civil engineer with more than 40 years of road engineering, Jay Hopson, PE. Jay lives in the Chesapeake Ranch Estates (CRE), just down the road from Long Beach, and he was hired by the CRE to solve the road maintenance problems for 65+ miles of private roads. The CRE faced many of the same challenges as our community with regards to topography, weather, stormwater management, erosion, rising water tables, etc.

Jay and several members from the LBCA Board (Richard Wilder, Patti Oehmke, Jolene Lauria and Steve Perlik) met frequently in the Fall of 2022 to begin the process. Jay inspected the roads, obtained preliminary cost estimates to compare asphalt resurfacing to chip/seal (PRICES ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE), recommended the phases for the project to be executed over a 3-5 year period that will work with the LBCA budget. He will write detailed specifications that will be used to obtain bids from asphalt contractors (only one supplier for chip/seal).

On January 14, Jay presented the plan to the community at the LBCA Board Meeting. You may read the minutes from this meeting by clicking the correct link (below) or navigating the LBCA website. This page on the website will be the go-to for updated status reports on our roadwork projects.

Everyone will need to be patient as we work through the plan; there will be inconveniences for driving in our community as flagmen will direct traffic on some public roads when the work starts. Property owners on the impacted roads will be required to make other arrangements for their vehicles if they intend to drive during construction; boats, trailers and other objects must be relocated if they are too close to the road.

LBCA believes that communication with the property owners on the private roads, and the community at large is crucial to the success of the roadwork project. A new email group comprised of the property owners on the Phase I roads has been set up in constant contact. We may have small meetings directed towards the Phase I property owners that will be open to anyone interested in this project. We ask that property owners on the Phase I roads document any water drainage problems they experience with photographs, drawings, logs and any other type of data that will help the engineer with the specifics. If you have ANY questions, please contact the LBCA Board using the email link below.