The road grading is grating on someone’s nerves. We received an anonymous fax at the Timber Lakes office today. The quality and font size of the document does not allow us to simply show you the fax here on the website. We have retyped it, exactly as we received it, complete with the original text and spelling. The content has not been edited in any way.

May 18, 2009

Dear Timber Lakes Association:

It is out of complete frustration that we write this letter to you. In all the years that we have lived in Timber Lakes, the roads have  never been in such poor condition. Unlike the letter that circulates once a month claiming that the roads are always taken care of, we have not seen a pot hole (some very deep), rut, deep crevices etc. filled or taken care of in three years.

The roads we are talking about are Greenleaf, Acorn and Deer Creek roads. They haven’t seen a grater or ANY fill dirt in the last three years. The roads are in horrible need of some fill dirt and grating. When it used to be done (years ago) it would take a day or so to smooth out the roads so they were drivable….that is doing all three in our area. We know there are a lot more, obviously.

We realize your response to this will be that there are so MANY roads and they do the best they can. Our response to you would be that we have all driven around and we would suggest less time on the pricy landscaping of the Maintenance building and grooming around the ponds, and spend some time grating the roads. We pay just as money a year to have some attention paid to our roads as the “larger” homes pay.

Simply drive the roads of the huge homes and see for yourselves the difference…then come and drive Greenleaf, try to drive Acorn without getting stuck in the huge, long, deep crevices and then go up Deer Creek. You wouldn’t like living on these negelcted raods any more than all of the residents on all three roads do.

Thank you for listening. We felt it should be said even though we are confident there will be reasons why it doesn’t happen again this year.

How about that truck that was bought for $80,000 that did no good at all and you can’t recoup any of the Association money that was spent…I wonder how many roads we could have fixed for $80,000????? I’m sure that everyone who pays their dues would love to know!

We usually do not respond to letters, emails or faxes that are not signed by lot owners but we made an exception in this case as we wish to clarify some points raised in the letter.

Just last week a had a lady that lives on a road just north of the ones listed in the letter called to let me know of some big holes in her road and asked that we do something about them as soon as possible. Because she took the time to call me and leave a message, I checked into the issue and instructed our road crew to fix it. Within two days, the holes were filled and the road was graded. I then returned her call to let her know the road crew had fixed the road and hoped that she was satisfied. This is just one example of how we respond to our fellow owners.

If the person that wrote the anonymous letter had taken the time to give us specifics, including their name, I would know who to call to discuss the road issues.

As for the “pricy [sic] landscaping” around the new vehicle storage building – we planted those trees, for which we negotiated a huge discount, for two reasons – 1. To make the view of the building to the surrounding neighbors a little less obtrusive, and 2. Wasatch County required us to landscape around the building as part of our building permit. We do not do any grooming around ponds. The Jones Lake dam was repaired this last year by the folks down in the valley who own the water. We cleaned up most of our stuff at Duck Lake and moved it to the new building, as we promised the neighbors we would do.

Regarding “larger” and “huge” homes getting special road treatment, I point out the following – There are larger and huge homes in every plat in Timber Lakes. There are larger and huge home on Acorn and Deer Creek. By definition, there are homes on Greenleaf that are larger than some homes on some other road. We don’t have a road that is reserved for larger or huge homes. Likewise, we don’t have a road that is restricted to smaller homes. This Board has never made a single road decision based on the size of home. We do not maintain any road based on the presence or absence of a larger or huge home.

I invite Mr. or Mrs. Anonymous to drive up past my cabin on Buck Way. I was stuck twice in the past three weeks. The President of the Association almost lost his vehicle in a water-filled pothole on the upper mountain a few days ago. We are aware that many roads have serious problems and assure you that no special consideration is given to anyone based on the square footage of their cabin, its location or any relationship they may have to the Association.

I now want to once again, explain why the roads in Timber Lakes are going to be a mess this summer. This is repeat information for anyone who attends our regular Board meetings. The Water Company (no relation to Timber Lakes Property Owners Association, except that you and I fund both entities) has hired a contractor (Sunroc) to install new water pipe along approximately 2/3 of the roads in Timber Lakes. The Water Company has instructed Sunroc to install the pipe in the center of the road. This means that almost every road in our subdivision will be completely torn up. While we do understand that people need to be able to drive to their cabins, it does not make any economic sense to spend a lot of money maintaining a road that soon will be torn up. We can address major problems, but not every problem we would normally fix. The roads above Blue Spruce are already in this condition, having been torn up and left by Sunroc last fall.

What makes matters worse, is that there is not enough money in the Water Company construction contract for the roads to be put back as good as they are now. We are going to be addressing this major concern for the next several years. We will do the very best we can to protect our interests in the roads, but they are going to get worse before they get better. We have discussed these issues with the Water Company and will continue to try to work with them. It’s their pipe, our roads and all of it is paid for by the same people, the owners.

Finally, your Board of Directors completely agrees with the comment made by Mr. or Mrs. Anonymous about the truck. The Anonymous Family would already know this if they came to our monthly meetings. The previous Board purchased that truck without proper research as to what type of truck could be useful on the mountain. We have been trying to sell or trade the truck for several months, but have been hampered by the economy, which is affecting all of us.

Like every Board that preceded us, and every Board that follows us, we have to live with the past decisions. Many of those decisions are, in our opinion, good and a few are are questionable. We are doing the best we can with what we have.

When you as a property owner have a concern, please talk to us about it. There are several ways to do this. You can use email, the telephone, send us a comment from the website, write a letter, send us a fax or best of all, come to a meeting in person and share your two cents worth. The Timber Lakes Property Owners Association is made up of the owners of 1530 lots. The members of the Board of Directors are just fellow owners. Some of us live here, some of us are weekenders and all of us care as much as you about the mountain, the roads and how the money is spent. We don’t retaliate against a fellow owner who has a problem or disagrees with something. Please don’t be afraid to identify yourself. We have met some great people who come to tell us how to do a better job. We cannot respond to an anonymous letter. Contact me and tell me your name and lot number so we can respond directly to you and your concerns! We welcome your input.

By the way, I do not know anything about a letter that is circulated every month about the roads. When you are grating about the grading, contact me. I will listen.

Gary Hume
Road Guy

The roads on both the East side and the West side of the mountain are open for construction traffic as of May 15, 2009. Please make sure if you are involved in a construction project that you have all the proper permits from TLPOA and Wasatch County. Security will ask the delivery truck drivers to provide lot information to them before they allow deliveries through the gate. Also, remember that all ATVs, UTVs, 4-wheelers, etc. need to have a current TLPOA permit (available at the office without charge to lot owners only). There is a lot of road construction going on as the water company lays new pipe. Please drive slow and be aware of all the workers. Remember the speed limit is 25 MPH on all non-paved roads, even if you are on an ATV. Please note that your construction projects need to be completed during the spring and summer months. Some time around October 15, 2009, depending on weather and temperature, we will close the roads to construction traffic.
Gary Hume
Road Guy

Winter has finally come to a close (we think). Many folks are asking when construction trucks well be allowed on the roads of Timber Lakes. We are hoping that the west side will be available the first week of May 2009. Next would be the lower part of the east side and then the upper east side. There is still about 4 foot of snow on the upper east side and that part of the mountain probably will not be open for at least 3 weeks. All of these dates are estimates!

If you have a specific question when your part of the mountain will open for construction traffic, you can contact the security personnel at the front gate for a day-by-day update. They will be the first ones that get the word as to what part of the mountain is open and when.

Gary Hume
Road Guy

Effective today we have closed the roads to heavy vehicles for the winter. The ground is beginning to freeze in many areas. This morning the roads were icy, very slick and and dangerous. For the remainder of the winter, we will not allow construction vehicles larger than a pickup to enter the subdivision. It required so much of our time to consider all the requests for exceptions to the road closing last month that we can no longer take such requests. The roads are closed to heavy traffic until next spring. Please note that your contractor can still come in with a pickup, weather permitting. However, pickups without chains endanger everyone else on the mountain on icy days. Please ask your contractor to follow the rules.

Gary Hume
The Road Guy

Summer was way too short for the many projects we identified to do and winter is just around the corner. As those of you with property on the upper part of the mountain may have noticed, we have removed the brush and some trees at the corner of Blue Spruce and Cut Off Road (or Club House as some may know it). Many of you have called me and asked about the “big drop off.” Our road crew is in the process of widening Cut Off Road, along with reducing the steepness of the slope at this intersection. This intersection is probably the worst one on the mountain. This part of the road has always had very steep sides and has always been dangerous but no one ever knew just how much it dropped off there until we removed the brush. Most of the fill dirt for this project is being moved from the new building site where we are making room for the driveway and parking area.

Some of you may have noticed that there are big cement boxes along some of the roads – these cement boxes are going to be put in the ground and connected to the culvert that runs under the road. These boxes will help keep dirt from filling up the pipe and will prevent trucks from crushing the end of the culvert. This will improve the drainage water flowing down the bar ditches.

Some have asked about our paving plans. We are not paving anything this year and perhaps not next year. Asphalt has jumped in price just like the gas for your car because it is an oil-based product. One of the reasons we will hold off for at least one year is that it costs so much to mobilize a paving crew. If you have, only so much money you end up spending it on the mobilization of the equipment and then have very little left to pay for actual pavement. This is why we have elected to hold off and try to have money saved from one year to the next so we can pay one mobilization fee and have more funds available to pave a longer stretch of road.

Questions have been asked about street signs and why have so many disappeared. Good question. Why someone would want to take our street signs? We have identified all that are currently missing and will be ordering them in the next few days. Additional speed limit signs are also being ordered and placed on each road. Just as a reminder, the speed limit is 25 mph on the paved roads, 20mph on the non-paved roads, and 15 mph on all corners. Please remember these limits apply to every vehicle, including ATVs. Your help in enforcing the limits is always appreciated.

As I have previously noted on the Board Blog (timberlakesutah.com) the snow route will consist of the main roads being plowed first and then the secondary roads next. Many have asked, “What about my road?” As time and money allows, we will get to most of the roads in reasonable time. We will always plow the Dugway first, then Blue Spruce and Ridgeline. After that, we will work the other roads as we can. Mother nature will dictate what part of the mountain is plowed first. We have two full-time road employees and they are on overtime after 40 hours – so we try to use their time wisely.

For any question you have about the roads and road projects please email me at roadguy@timberlakesutah.com

A point of clarification - I attend the Water Board meetings on behalf of the TLPOA Board, I am not the Water Company!

I look forward to your comments and questions.

Gary Hume
The Road Guy

Many have asked about our winter snowplowing schedule. Timber Lakes has a full-time crew of two people who maintain the roads year-round. In the winter, the snowplow process is not dictated by an exact schedule. The first road to be plowed is the paved section referred to as the Dugway. This is paved portion of Lake Pines Drive. Generally, the second road to be plowed is Blue Spruce and the third is Ridgeline.

This schedule is always subject to change based on the amount and location on the mountain of snowfall.

As time permits and the main roads are cleared, the crew then plows side roads that feed into the above-mentioned roads. If the west side get more snow than the east side then we will work on that area first or if the east side (upper part of the mountain) gets more snow we will spend more time in that area at first.

Our crews are on a 40-hour week and we try to manage their time so they are available to work on the roads when Mother Nature decides to let it snow. We generally do not start plowing until there is at least 6 inches of new snow.

If you have additional questions about plowing, please check our website for updates during the winter months.

Please remember that snow removal depends on several things, including the amount of snowfall, where the snow falls, availability of equipment, availability of our 2-man crew and availability of funds.

There are always many questions by the lot owners as to what projects are ongoing and why “my road is not fixed”! We have been holding off on repairs to the roads while waiting to see if the water bond project was going to pass. Now that the water board has decided to move forward with the project, we can now prioritize our road projects.

John B. and I attended a meeting with some of the water board members this week and worked on a plan as to what part of the mountain they would suggest to the contractor he work on first. I have been holding off on applying any new road base to the roads that will be dug up (approximately 18+ miles of road) when the new water pipe is laid as this would be a waste of our dollars. If we laid down new base now the new base would be mixed into the dirt and then reapplied. This does not make for a good road base.

It looks like the water contractor will start laying pipe in early September. The water company will probably ask for them to start on the upper part of the mountain (as that is where most water leaks are) and a second crew start on the west side. If snow hits the upper mountain early this year, that crew will probably move to the west lower side.

As the pipe is laid in the ground on the side roads those roads will be put back to some improved condition and then most will receive an additional 3 inches of road base added to the surface. Our road guys will be working ahead of the pipe laying crews making sure that the roads are widened where and when possible and that excess dirt from the pipe trench is used to improve certain road dips and humps. Our biggest challenge is that we have only two road guys, while the pipe laying company may have up to four crews available for this project at any one time. Math says we cannot keep ahead of all the pipe crews with just our two guys so we will be working on the areas that need the most work as our priority.
We will be evaluating all the intersections and trying to figure out how we can improve them, if possible, if and when we have excess dirt and time available.

Our original intent was to have the pipe crews do Blue Spruce first so we could improve that road. After some additional consideration we decided to do Blue Spruce last as there will be a large volume of heavy trucks going up and down that road in relation to the water pipe project which could cause considerable damage to that section of the road.

There is no doubt that the main roads will be in very poor shape for the next 1-2 years. We will do the best we can to keep the roads graded and as smooth as possible.

In a project of this nature there are a lot of “ifs”, “when” and “buts”. We have a road crew of two men and a whole lot of work to do with very little money. Please be patient with us over the next few years. When we are all through I think the mountain will defiantly be in the best shape is has been in years.

Thanks for your patience.

Gary Hume
Road Guy

As I commented in the last update – if the snow would stop coming down we could get to work on the many projects we have in relation to the roads. The snow came again over the holiday weekend, much to the disappointment of many 4 wheelers. We are still waiting to define major projects to see what direction the water company takes in regards to the improvement bond. If they continue with the bond project it will keep us busy working on the roads where they are laying pipe.

I would like to take this opportunity to welcome back as our Mountain Road Manager, Mike Camper. Mike knows the mountain like the back of his hand and also has a lot of knowledge about what has gone on here for many years. Mike is joined by Rick Straton who has been working on the roads by himself for the past few months. These two guys have a lot of work ahead of them this summer, starting with digging out the culverts that have been covered up with mud this past year.

Some folks wonder what the projects are and who gives the priority to the projects. The Board listens to you, the lot owners, as to what needs to be fixed or improved on the mountain. Not all the requests make the “to do list” but they are prioritized based on overall benefit to the majority of the owners. When driving down our Timber Lakes roads please remember the speed limit is 25 mph. I was out picking up trash on the Dugway last Saturday with two of my grandkids and folks drove by us at speeds that only an autobahn has seen in Europe. Please slow down and enjoy the sites as you drive to you cabin.

Some owners are already asking what roads will be plowed next winter. We will not make that decision until this fall. We will first take into account the main roads and then the feeder roads, looking at how much each road is traveled. We will post a detailed list by fall as to what the priorities will be.
Thanks

Gary
The road guy

Hello Timber Lakes owners (full time, part time and lot owners):

Every time I get ready to write this update about the roads I start to say, “now the snows are over” it snows again. We did make it through the winter thanks to Don, Bonnie, Gordon, Rick (our current mountain employee) and many others. My thanks to them and anyone else that helped. As the snow melts, the ruts get wider, deeper and the road base becomes thinner. We are currently reviewing the roads and the budget to see what the projects will be for the summer. This past winter took a real toll on our equipment when we were trying to clear the roads with employees that were not completely trained on the equipment. We are currently looking to hire a full time “Mountain Road Manager.” We hope to fill this position soon as we have many projects to complete before winter arrives again.

We anticipate one of the projects this summer is to place major culverts on the main roads in order to channel the rain and snow runoff and keep it from running down the middle of the road. This project will close part of the main roads from time to time as we work to place these culverts. We ask for your patience during the road detours.

The road group is very excited about the new maintenance building you can read about on Ole’s blog. This building will allow for the parking of all the road equipment inside and out of the harsh weather. We hope to be in the new building by late fall.

We are currently enlarging the parking area near the office and when completed should have about doubled the current space.

One last thing is if you, family or friends are riding ATV’s on the Timber Lakes roads please do not tear up the roads by doing donuts or riding through the bar ditches. It is your money and if you tear up the roads we will eventually fix them and you will ultimately pay – it’s your maintenance fees!

Stay tuned to this site for updates on what is happening with the road group!

Your feedback is always appreciated.

Your “Road Guy,”

Gary Hume