| | Published July 3rd, 2024
| Letters to the editor
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Private Roads
Dear Editor,
The June 19 letter "Private Road Subsidy" contains factual errors, beginning with the allegation that private road residents "purchased their homes at discounted prices (since homes and lots on private roads are cheaper than similar ones on public roads)". A perusal of prices and a tally of the Assessor rolls, indicates just the opposite - higher typical purchase prices and a 29% higher assessed average valuation for homes on private roads. For example, some of Orinda's more expensive homes, such as in Wilder, are on private roads. Orinda's 5,509 residences on public roads represent approximately 73% ($6.282 billion, or $1,140,315 per home) of Orinda's $8.587 billion 2022/23 residential tax base, while its 1,570 residences on private roads represent 27% ($2.304 billion, or $1,467,516 per home).
However, the true irony is in Mr. Flagg's claim that some private road residents are demanding a "subsidy". He completely omits the fact that some private road residents have been continuously providing a subsidy to the rest of Orinda's residents by being required to personally maintain and replace, under their "private" roads, public-works-scale drainage structures that are fed high volume public storm water collected, concentrated, and diverted from public roads, all the while paying taxes to relieve "public" residents of these same expenses. Private road residents also pay their full share of the taxes to repay the road bonds used to repair public residential streets like the one Mr. Flagg lives on. It would be fair to end this subsidization, currently forced only onto private road residents, of these complex drains - a practice which also poses a fiscal risk to all Orinda residents. Adoption of these roads could also qualify Orinda for added grant and return-to-source funding, and improved FEMA accessibility in the event of a disaster involving one of these "private" roads or drains. I invite Mr. Flagg to meet for coffee on my "private" road and review detailed records showing how we provide concentrated drainage of a public road system, and personally pay for it for the benefit of all Orindans.
Sincerely,
Joel Libove
Orinda |
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Lamorinda Weekly, Moraga CA