NOBLESVILLE — Some residents in a Noblesville neighborhood say crumbling roads have become an ongoing problem, but questions remain over who is responsible for fixing them.
“The roads are getting worse and worse — just a bump bump bump, you know,” said resident David Echols.
His neighbor, Paul Bowman, said he has lived in the area for nearly three decades without having seen any major repairs.
“There are big potholes in the middle of the road — and cracks, and they'll try and fill them a little bit. It's like a band-aid," Bowman said.
City officials stated that the responsibility for repairs may not lie with the city at all.
“We have roads that some of them are public and some of them are private,” said Noblesville City Engineer Allison Krupski. “This is really just to maximize the developable ground, maximize their area of usage — and so sometimes we do allow these private streets.”
Krupski said private streets often do not meet the city’s standards, leaving homeowner associations in charge of maintenance.
Echols said many neighbors are frustrated and want to know why the city will not take over the roads.
The Waterside at Northlake neighborhood’s homeowners association acknowledged the problem, saying in a statement that “the financial and logistical burden of road maintenance exceeds what our HOA was designed to handle,” adding that it hopes “the city will change its mind and work to make the neighborhood roads non-private.”
FULL STATEMENT:
"As a small community, our HOA operates on limited dues, which makes it extremely difficult to maintain our neighborhood roads to the standard our residents deserve. Despite our best efforts, the financial and logistical burden of road maintenance exceeds what our HOA was designed to handle.
We have reached out to the city for assistance multiple times, but unfortunately, we’ve been informed that our roads are considered private because they were not originally built to city standards. As a result, the city has declined to take responsibility for maintenance, brush pickup, snow plowing, or mowing in adjacent areas near our subdivision.
This situation places an unfair burden on our residents, and we believe our community deserves better. We are fully open and willing to work with the city to bring our roads up to standard and transition them to city ownership, if that is what’s required for us to receive the same services and support as surrounding neighborhoods.
Our goal is to ensure safe, well-maintained infrastructure for our residents, and we hope the city will come to the table to help us find a path forward."
Echols said he wishes he had known more before buying his home.
“I mean, people should know before they buy a home,” he said. “Does the city own these streets, or does the HOA — I never knew anything about it for a long time.”
