Road Conditions Threaten Trash Pickup in Shrewsbury

It’s more than just an idle threat. If the residents of Sunnybank Drive don’t take the steps soon to improve their nearly impassable private street, the borough could eliminate their trash and brush pickup.

The issue, Shrewsbury’s Department of Public Works Forman Ron Neis told the borough at its council meeting Monday night, is that the narrow drive off of Sycamore Avenue with its beyond-poor road conditions have made it a safety hazard for large vehicles attempting to navigate Sunnybank Drive.

It’s been an issue for years, he said, but recently the problem has become more severe as some property owners have failed to maintain the private road. The road is beset by poor drainage, missing curbs and patchwork pavement, the result of a road having gone without a repaving in, according to at least one resident, about 40 years or so. And that’s the best of it. Drive far enough down the road and you reach a point where you wonder how even residents get too and from, let alone a garbage truck that’s nearly 40 feet long and weighs 20 tons.

“Our opinion is that it’s reached a point where it’s unsafe,” Councilman Bill Dodge said.

Because it’s private property, it’s up to the residents to find a fix, or, if they’d like the borough to take it over, pay the roughly three quarters of a million dollars it would take to bring it up to an acceptable borough standard, he said.

In the past, residents said the borough’s code enforcement officials would tell Sunnybank homeowners when they needed to make repairs to the road. According to the borough, this was just a courtesy. Just as Shrewsbury has no obligation to repair the private road, it lacks the authority to tell Sunnybank residents when to make repairs.

Though Shrewsbury can make recommendations, it’s up to the residents to find out how to repair the road. More importantly, perhaps, it’s up to the residents to find out how to fund the repair of the road.

Sunnybank resident Doug Milnes took to the microphone at Monday’s meeting to describe what has become a confusing situation. On one side, the residents have learned that the borough could eliminate trash pick up. On the other side, another resident, attorney Philip San Filippo, has distributed letters with his official law office letterhead informing the residents that they’ve each got to pay $360 to patch the roadway or else face having to pay more than $55,000 each to the borough to completely curb and repave the road, Milnes said.

"Who’s retained him to represent the street,” Milnes asked rhetorically, continuing: “It’s a little threatening. The second letter came with an ultimatum.”

Board solicitor Marty Barger allayed the fears of Milnes and about six other Sunnybank residents in attendance by assuring them that the borough had no interest in taking over the street, which it wouldn’t do unless it was brought up to an acceptable standard. Considering the cost-prohibitive nature of such a job, it’s likely that the onus of street repair will fall on the residents for, well, ever.

Still, Barger said, while Sunnybank is a private road, its residents are entitled to basic services as taxpayers. When road conditions become unsafe, however, that’s when the borough can and will pull back.

For their part, the residents are well aware of the problem. At least those in attendance are. They’ve been fighting against a lingering problem for years. Many of the homeowners of the 14 properties on Sunnybank maintain their individual sections of road as best they can, making spot repairs where they can. There are others, they say, who don’t do a thing. One house on the street has been abandoned for 13 years. Its owners, who attempted to further develop their parcel of land but were rejected, continue to pay taxes but as far as road repair goes, that’s just never happened.

“It burns me that we’re fighting over this property,” Sunnybank resident Cecelia Kodama said, noting that the abandoned property in question was involved in a lawsuit several years ago that hinged on a number of factors, including ownership of a specific section of road that’s currently in rough shape.

If most of the residents maintain their section of the street, they wondered outside of council chambers, why would the cost of covering other residents’ section of road fall on them, too?

Councilman Mike Denofa said Sunnybank residents aren’t in imminent danger of having their services revoked. The purpose of calling attention to the problem, and the possible ramifications of not repairing the road, was a good way to start dialogue among the residents, a bit of incentive to work together to find a solution before the borough finds one they won’t like.