County to take over Nestledown road work

Bedford County will be taking care of roads at Nestledown Crossing Subdivision following the signing of an agreed order between a homeowners association and the county.

In February, the county commission authorized the county attorney, Ginger Shofner, to negotiate a settlement in the lawsuit filed by attorney Jeff Seckler, his wife, Gina, and the Nestledown Crossing Homeowners Association.

The settlement was contingent on the county being able to get funds from the developer of the project.

The suit was filed late last year in Chancery Court against the county by residents because the county approved a subdivision plat and given that the roads in Nestledown are now in such poor condition, the county could not accept them for maintenance.

The agreed order, signed by Chancellor J.B. Cox on April 3, states all road developed and of record within the subdivision "be declared to be County roads within the Bedford County road system and, as such, the repair and maintenance of such roads shall be the responsibility of the Defendant..." (Bedford County.)

In many large subdivisions, the developer intentionally waits to complete street paving until about 80 percent of the homes have been built. The county allows this, provided the developer puts up a bond to guarantee the eventual completion of the road to meet county specifications.

However, the roads in Nestledown Crossing were built earlier than normal and were designed and built four years ago to meet the county standards at that time.

The county approved the subdivision plat and -- since the road had already been built -- did not require any completion bond. But the county didn't accept the road for maintenance at the time.

But as new homes were built, the road became damaged and the county highway department refused to accept the road until the damage had been repaired and the road once again met county standards.

Residents of the subdivision appeared before the planning commission in June 2008 to complain about the situation, but planners told them at that time their complaint was against the developer, Marvin Parker Jr., not against the county.

At the time, the county said it could not legally do any repair work on the road while it was private property, and couldn't legally accept it as county property until it had been brought up to standard.

Parker argued with the homeowners over whether it was construction equipment or homeowners' modifications that caused the damage. Residents eventually brought the suit against the county for having approved the subdivision plat.

The county commission and Bedford County Road Board both voted in December 2008 to defend the lawsuit rather than settling, but in February, the decision to settle the suit was made by the full commission.

--City editor John I. Carney assisted with this report.