County collects debris of storm

Source of funding unclear  

Pulaski County sanitation workers have been out collecting "green" debris from private roads since the April 27 tornadoes after initially denying requests from landowners and others who said they were unable to haul the debris to public roads for pickup.

Even with nine trucks operating four days per week, county officials said the removal of what is estimated to be more than 20,000 tons of debris is expected to take a year or longer.

"It depends on how much they get down to the road," county Road and Bridge Director Barbara Richard said.

The county estimates that the total cost of picking up storm debris from public or private roadways, then grinding it into mulch or depositing it in landfills, will be about $3.5 million.

Lisa Bowerman, whose parents live in Somerset Estates, said her father has already seen some sanitation trucks in the area.

"We're glad that they finally decided to do that," she said. "The original response was, 'Sorry, it's a private road.'"

Officials are still trying to figure out where the money for picking up the debris will come from.

"We can't spend money on private property," County Judge Buddy Villines said.

Pulaski County's federal disaster declaration has made assistance available for individual property owners who apply for it and are approved to receive it.

So far, nearly $2 million in individual assistance has been approved for residents in the 11 counties in Arkansas that were declared federal disaster areas after the storms.

Pulaski County has not received any money from state government to handle the disaster, and officials believe that Pulaski County did not receive enough public infrastructure damage to receive assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

"Entergy has extensive damage, but it's considered a private utility," Villines said. "I'm not even sure they [FEMA] would pay us for going on private roads," he added.

Bowerman said residents of Somerset Estates had looked into having a contractor pick up the debris and move it to a public road for pickup but the cost made it "just not an option."

"It's very, very expensive," she said.

Villines said the debris-collection problems arising from the April 27 storms are unusual because a lot of damage was concentrated in areas along private roadways.

"I knew when I went out there and saw where the damage was that we would have a problem," Villines said.

Residents and Villines said the conflict over what the county can do along private roads isn't new.

Residents can turn their private roads into public roads, but that comes with the cost of dedicating the right of way and fixing the roads to county standards.

"It's not an inexpensive process," Villines said.

Villines said many private roads, which must be maintained by the property owners who live along them, are in substandard condition. Residents often ask the county to fix them, but they are turned away.

"You can't improve somebody's property with public money," Richard said.

Paron-area resident Cynthia Keller, who lives off Brush Mountain Trail, said she and her neighbors previously attempted to turn their private road into a county road but were given two vastly different estimates from county officials on the cost to do so and were unable to afford the final $200,000 estimate -- more than twice what they were originally told by a county engineer.

"We are private property because the county refuses to help us," Keller said.

Villines said he has no problem with people who choose to live on private roads and noted that he would prefer that private roads become county roads.

"If for no other reason than ... because all of us here are frustrated," he said.

Metro on 05/19/2014

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