An important function of the 4HRPOA is to periodically maintain private Four Hills Ranch / Howard Mesa Ranch “Common Roads”. The Common Roads are used by both Howard Mesa Ranch and Four Hills Ranch members to access their property. Both associations contribute funds for the maintenance of the Common Roads.
The primary responsibility for Common Roads maintenance is shared, switching periodically between the two associations as directed by the Road Maintenance Agreement recorded by the Coconino County Recorder on May 22, 2015.
Primarily Responsible Association
Starting in 2019, the maintenance responsibility is on a 3-year rotation beginning as follows –
- FHR May 1 – April 30, 2019 through 2022
- HMR May 1 – April 30, 2022 through 2025
Updates:
Feb 24, 2023: Common Road Conditions, Activity and Plans, from HMR/4HR Joint Roads Committee:
This Presidents Day weekend, HMR1 resident Brian Marsh, a retired general contractor, volunteered to inspect and lightly repair, as much as possible, the most challenging sections of Big Elk, Latigo and Jackrabbit in his own tractor to stem ongoing damage from daily driving and in preparation for the next snow. If you see him out there working, feel free to wave and say thank you for volunteering.
The common dirt roads remain over-saturated in large sections. Once the commons dry out enough, they can be fully graded, including ditch and culvert clean-up, etc., with an ETA start for commons mid-March, weather permitting, and continuing through May. Highest priority primary roads will also be addressed during that time.
The 2023 roads recovery and improvement plan was formally discussed at the Feb. 16th HMR1 open board meeting and the Feb. 17th joint HMR1/4Hills Roads Committee meeting. Thank you to all, especially 4Hills POA board members, Thad Johnson and Dennis Van Roekel, the Grand Canyon Railway, the Forest Service, Coconino County, and our local AZ Cattle Growers ranchers, including Perrin Ranch owner Mike Macauley, who provided a lot of great input and feedback based on long-time residence experience and wisdom gained from local roads maintenance and improvement lessons learned.
We are all neighbors on adjacent land resources, and will go farther faster by working together to move forward on economical cattle, deer/elk and growing rural ranch-friendly roads maintenance and improvements. We are all eager to start full roads recovery and improvements as soon as possible.
In the interim, there are things we can continue to do as communities to help, and there are more updates (in bold below) about what is being done:
- Please use caution when driving as large sections of dirt roads remain over-saturated. If possible, plan your trip in the morning and/or evening after the roads have refrozen. On wet roads, drivers are advised to reduce speed by 1/3, and in snow by 1/2. Over-saturated half-frozen dirt roads should be considered both wet and snowy conditions. Consider driving below the posted 25mph speed limit until roads recovery is possible. It is also advisable not to pass the vehicle in front of you. Also consider providing 2 additional car lengths to allow for sudden stops for obstacles such as cattle or stuck vehicles. If you see a neighbor stuck, please help them if you can.
If you notice a particularly rough section, please contact your Roads Committee with details so we can address it asap. For more comprehensive common roads information, check out the 4Hills Roads pages at: https://fourhillsranchpoa.wordpress.com/roads/ .
- Please try to limit delivery services to water and propane. Those deliveries are still being made, and we are told that two companies are focusing on deliveries to residents who have 10 percent or less in their tanks, and are clustering neighborhood deliveries in the mornings when the roads are still frozen to minimize roads damage. We can help all propane and water delivery companies by joining their keep-full programs vs. will-call, and by letting them know when our tanks are at 30%.
Superior Propane in Williams and Grand Canyon Water delivery services will self-cluster their deliveries for us, filling a series of neighboring tanks according to need, geographical location and roads conditions. Superior also offers a referral bonus, so if you already use Superior, remember to tell them the name of the neighbor you referred.
- Please try to use USPS vs UPS and FedEx. The series of continuous individual UPS and FedEx deliveries on over-saturated roads further compounds roads damage and needed repairs, and impacts water and propane deliveries. The semi-circle at the community mailboxes driveway was just graded, will have ongoing snow removal, and will be cindered asap, to ensure easy access by package delivery trucks and residents regardless of weather.
Four Hills Ranch POA 