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Supervisors seek statutory relief to repair private roads in abandoned subdivisions
Summary
Cochise supervisors discussed proposals to use phased county work to bring private subdivision roads up to standard and then transfer them to HOAs, but said state procurement thresholds and a $350,000 bid requirement impede incremental in-house work and require statutory exemptions.
Supervisors described cases in Cochise County where developers abandoned subdivisions and left private roads in poor condition; the board discussed a proposal to help or coordinate phased repairs so homeowners’ associations can assume ongoing maintenance.
The Chair (speaker 1) said private contractors estimated $2.2 million to fix several subdivisions, but county crews could complete incremental repairs over multiple years for a far lower cost if state procurement and bidding thresholds allowed it. "Fazio said he could probably do it for about $550k if we do it in increments," the Chair said, but state law forces competitive bidding on projects above $350,000, and that bidding threshold would prevent the phased approach the county prefers.
Board members asked staff to research statutory tweaks or narrow exemptions to permit incremental county assistance in limited, defined cases (abandoned subdivisions where HOAs will accept the road after improvements) while guarding against opening the approach to inappropriate large-scale county construction projects.
Craig Sullivan said similar proposals and alternative road-maintenance mechanisms have been considered in other counties and CSA is willing to work with Cochise staff on possible statutory language or models.
