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This isn't the kind of thing I would normally post here, but I'm trying to spread this as far and wide as I can, to raise awareness and hopefully get some other voices to help speak out.
Apparently if the City of Raleigh decides to do a road project in front of your house, they can charge you money for it! If the city installs curb and gutter drainage on a street that didn't have it before, they can charge the homeowners living along the road an assessment fee of $32 for every foot of frontage. I found this out recently because the city has a project planned for the road my house is on.
For most yards, this means a fee to the homeowner between $2,500 to $5,000! For my yard, it will be $4,000. That is so much money!
I believe this is morally wrong. The city's argument would be that it's an "improvement" to the property, which is a matter of opinion. That's moot anyway, because even if it is an improvement, homeowners do not get the option to decline the improvement. It's everyone's road, and everyone's water being drained away, so it is wrong to make the people who happen to live on the road shoulder such a large share of the costs, when it's for everyone!
Road construction has to happen sometimes. But we can all agree it shouldn't hurt the people who live there. The only way it would be fair to ask the homeowners to pay this is if only the homeowners living on the road can use it, which of course is not the case.
Luckily, it does not have to be this way. Please take some time to send an e-mail to the city council. You can reach all of them at once at this e-mail address:
If you want to contact your individual council member as well, here's a page where you could start looking for their contact info. You can scroll to the bottom to see what district you and in and it will tell you your council member:
Let them know that you think it's time to get rid of curb and gutter assessments, along with any other involuntary assessments to homeowners for public projects!
Please spread this message far and wide, and encourage everyone else to send an e-mail to the City Council as well--you don't even have to come up with an original message, you can just copy and paste this one if you want! Road construction can happen on anyone's road, and if it ever happens on yours, you won't want the city to single out you and your neighbors with a huge bill for a public project. Here's a list of streets that the city either has road projects planned for, or is under consideration, and anyone living there could potentially be affected:
Marsh Creek Road
Trawick Road
Buck Jones Road
Michell Mill Road
Hillsborough Street
Pullen Road
Blue Ridge Road
Fox Road
Leesville Road
Glenwood Avenue
Ray Road
Ebenezer Church Road
Fairbanks Road
Pearl Road
Howard Road
Honeycutt Road
Dillard Drive
Raven Ridge Road
New Hope Church Road
Old Wake Forest Road
Pleasant Valley Road
Poole Road
Scotland Street
Tryon Road
Yonkers Road
Dixie Forest Road
Barwell Road
Six Forks Road
Blount Street
Person Street
Rock Quarry Road
Atlantic Avenue
Carolina Pines Avenue
Jones Franklin Road
Perry Creek Road
Gorman Street
Western Boulevard
Lake Wheeler Road
Litchford Road
Trailwood Drive
Trinity Road
Spring Forest Road
Strickland Road
Does this actually happen? I've never heard of such a thing.
“In Raleigh, we only assess for a portion of the curb and gutter cost,” Dawson said. “In this case, the curb and gutter are not there. Theoretically, they got a lower price for their property because it cost the developer less to build it, and the city is recouping the equity in putting that curb and gutter in.”
Many years ago I lived on a gravel road. When the street in front of me was paving and I got a bill from the city. My understanding is that cities can charge for value added to property but not total cost. My guess is that hiring a lawyer to prove value was not added would cost more than assessment. My daughter got a bill when city water came to her rural area recently so I am guessing it is legal.
When we lived in Raleigh, a developer wanted to put a very large townhome community at the end of our street (which had been a dead end up to that time). He was trying to get it rezoned to accommodate the number of homes he wanted to put in. In order for that many homes to go in, they would have had to widen our little street to put in a turn lane and add sidewalks. To do that, they would have to take 20' of each homeowner's front yard and then charge us for the cost of doing the work and for the "improvement" sidewalks would have made to our property. So yeah, take some of our property AND charge us, talk about adding insult to injury!
Fortunately, our city counsel person fought against the rezoning. Instead, it stayed zoned for SFR homes.
Does this actually happen? I've never heard of such a thing.
“In Raleigh, we only assess for a portion of the curb and gutter cost,” Dawson said. “In this case, the curb and gutter are not there. Theoretically, they got a lower price for their property because it cost the developer less to build it, and the city is recouping the equity in putting that curb and gutter in.”
Theoretically is definitely the key word there.
When these things are added when new, the developer (and the buyer) pay for them. If they aren't there, the developer is not paying for them. If the buyer overpaid for a home without these things, that is on them.
Sounds like the homes where these improvements are added later are not being penalized, they've just now had the costs added to their property that others already had. Yeah, it stinks for them that they don't have control over the situation, but that is one of those risks you take as a homeowner.
When these things are added when new, the developer (and the buyer) pay for them. If they aren't there, the developer is not paying for them. If the buyer overpaid for a home without these things, that is on them.
Sounds like the homes where these improvements are added later are not being penalized, they've just now had the costs added to their property that others already had. Yeah, it stinks for them that they don't have control over the situation, but that is one of those risks you take as a homeowner.
Cause so many people are looking for curbs and gutters when they buy a house. Come on that's ridiculous. The thought would never cross my mind, and it would never cross my mind that the town wouldn't cover the cost on a public street should it need to be added.
Those who know me on here know for sure that I'm all about personal responsibility. This is not a due diligence issue on the homeowners in any shape or form. The better question is why are the developers not required to put them in?
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