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Special tax will pay for damaged bridge
Residents using the damaged Crooked Bridge to travel to and from homes have been granted the means to pay for repairs to the bridge.
Loudoun's supervisors voted unanimously June 16 to approve a special tax district on the 19 homes in the Greenlea neighborhood – a small development south of Leesburg – to pay for a new bridge.
Crooked Bridge, the only entrance into Greenlea, was damaged during a May 2008 storm that sent debris down Goose Creek. The debris congested under the bridge and damaged its supports.
Since then, Greenlea residents have crossed the bridge at their own risk.
“I think it's a miracle that we haven't had a disaster since this damage appeared,” said Supervisor Jim Burton (I-Blue Ridge), who represents Greenlea residents.
The cost of the new bridge, over 15 years, will amount to about $665,000 divided among the homes. The tax district will be applied only to the homes in that neighborhood.
During a public hearing in May, residents of the small neighborhood appealed to supervisors for help with repairs. A homeowner in the neighborhood had agreed to front the money for the project, if the county would back the funds. This, Greenlea residents said, is why a special tax district is needed.
“Please understand that this bridge is our only real access to our homes,” Ray Kinard, of Greenlea, said during the May hearing. For a year, he said, residents have struggled with the limited access.
“We struggled over the winter to get propane delivered,” said Kinard, who is Greenlea's homeowners association president.
Because the bridge is part of a private roadway, it is the responsibility of the residents of Greenlea to fund repairs, county staff said.
Kinard and about 80 percent of his fellow residents agree that a special tax district is needed to pay for repairs to the bridge. Under this plan, the county would put a lien on the 19 properties and serve as the collector of fees for the homeowners association. The tax would be divided into two payments a year.
One homeowner submitted an objection to the county before the June 16 vote. The resident said individual property owners should not be in the business of paying for road and bridge repairs. He added, in his letter to supervisors, that he had concerns about the distribution of costs.
County staff said they would be available to answer Greenlea residents' questions on the tax district and others that come up.
The tax on these homes will be applied to their regular real property tax bill.
Contact the reporter at hhobbs@timespapers.com
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