'Like Lord of the Flies': Road troubles continue in Pender neighborhood

After falling and breaking a recently replaced knee, Paula Mallory remembers the struggle of leaving the Arvida neighborhood in Rocky Point.

It wasn't an easy drive for emergency people coming to her rescue on Mt. Gallon Road because of poor road conditions.

And on Arvida Spur Road? Even worse.

"It took forever for the ambulance to get down here because the road was so bad," Mallory said after calling 911. "And getting out of here on the ambulance, it took a long time because he had to go so slow because the road was so bad. It was so bumpy, every bump they hit was painful."

Like us on Facebook: Head to Pender Today to join the conversation on county events and issues

In the neighborhood with more than 130 homes, the roads continue to get worse since the first ones were laid decades ago by a developer who allegedly made a promise the state would take over maintenance. That never happened.

After many years of making pleas to state and county officials, residents are still on their own when it comes to potholes and other headaches.

Mallory has lived on Mt. Gallon Road for 22 years, and it's been even longer for her husband, Richard Lenfestey, who's been there for more than 30. Together they've watched neighbors deal with longer response times from emergency officials because of the roads.

One instance was a blaze, with fire departments struggling to reach a house two doors downs because of conditions on Arvida Spur Road. Narrow road space on Mt. Gallon also backed up emergency vehicles.

The trouble doesn't stop on Arvida Spur and Mt. Gallon. Another connection, Pond Road, is also an issue. Residents said the roads have damaged cars. In 2016, after a heavy rain, Mallory's car fell into a mud hole, which busted a radiator.

"You can not keep a car lined up living out here," she said. "You can just forget it."

Following a storm or because of overall conditions, Mallory said food and carrier delivery services are hesitant to bring orders to the neighborhood.

"I can't count how many times we pulled them out when they got stuck because they tried to deliver a pizza," she said.

Roads are also a nuisance for school children. Former resident Vicki Ohanesian Prince said they have to gather near the Arvida Road and Cheshire Road intersection.

"Buses will not come down that road at all," she said. "The kids who live in the back have to walk through that muck. They have a to walk a mile or more."

Who's responsible?

Residents said the problem began in the 1970s when the development started by the Pender Development Company, Inc. allegedly promised people verbally and in writing the roads would be brought up to state standards, so officials can take over.

During that time, the developer wrote into the covenant that homeowners were responsible for half the road in front of their home, residents said. But after several deaths in the family and a closing of the original corporation, there is no connection to the original contract. Prince said it's been that way for several decades.

To bring the roads up to a certain standard, it would cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. Mallory believes it's something that's not going to happen soon.

"There's a lot of rental property out here, too," she said. "If you don't live out in this neighborhood and drive this road every day, you don't care."

Right now, the only care for the roads is coming from Arvida resident Tony Moore with his personal tractor. Depending on the need or weather, Moore spends anywhere from four to eight hours a week working to fill holes and grading to help his neighbors.

"I don't mind doing it," Moore said. "I think it's a good service to the community. I just wish we had more people on the outside that would help."

For many years, Prince played an active role in trying to have a state takeover for the road. She described the situation as "a wild mess" and disaster waiting to happen if there's a catastrophic event.

"These people pay county taxes," Prince said. "They're just like any other resident in Pender County, but they don't have access to a safe road."

More: Will inevitable growth cause this Pender County community to lose its Mayberry feel?

Moore wants the government to help, but understands why they can't do it for everybody, and believes developers can be held to a higher standard.

"If they help one, then they got to help the next one," he said in regards on why officials are probably hesitant to do something. "I don't think Pender County is holding up their developers to the standards that they need to hold them up to. They're letting them do what they want to do and just letting it go through just like this developer who said he was going to pave the road and have the NCDOT (North Carolina Department of Transportation) take it over. Well, he never paved it and DOT never took it over."

Arvida Spur Road is maintained by the NCDOT for a distance of .38 miles from Cheshire Road. In a statement released by Lauren Haviland, NCDOT communications officer, officials said the portion was added to its system in 1988.

"The remainder of the road is not state maintained," the department stated. "The department has thoroughly reviewed the request to take on the remainder of the road for state maintenance and has previously responded. To date, nothing has changed that would enable us to take further action."

The Arvida Neighbors Facebook group was formed for the area, with donations going towards the gravel and gas for the tractor. But because of the financial situation of the residents, making improvements comes with a challenge.

More: Pender County officials to explore making gun shops exempt from shooting ordinance

"We're very limited," said Prince, who served as president for a couple of years. "We don't have money to establish an HOA to hire an attorney or get the proper advice.

"Everybody keeps saying it's a private road. Well, it is a private road, but it was originally established as 'development,' that was supposed to be brought up to code. That has never happened."

For the newer homes, Prince said Demco Builders, Inc. has been non responsive about chipping in to help. When contacted by the StarNews, David DeMoss of Demco Builders responded by email and said the company purchased lots and built houses in the area.

"It's a gravel road and they always need maintenance," DeMoss said. "Gravel is the cheapest way to go, but in the long run it is more expensive."

Prince also listed Clayton Homes as another developer in the area. David Moore, general manager of the Wilmington area, said Clayton probably sold about eight homes in recent years and doesn't have control over the roads or have enough to take over a road project. There's one under construction right now, David Moore said. He added it wouldn't be fair to put the blame on Clayton when there's more than 100 homes in the area.

"Everybody likes to throw darts at the builder, they always do because they think we're in there making all this money and that we should develop the roads," David Moore said. "First of all, it's very expensive. Number two, everybody who bought land in there, went in there with their eyes wide open about the conditions of the roads."

David Moore thinks an HOA and putting more pressure on the state to do something can help residents.

"If there was actually a movement out there to form an association, Clayton would help," he said. "If there was a way we could help them get started, either by getting them some free legal advice so they can form the association and get it off the ground, we'll be more than happy to help them. That's even taking into consideration that Arvida is practically sold out. I don't think there's any more lots in there for sale - very few."

Prince discussed the matter with state and local officials. But Prince said she keeps hearing the "private road" excuse.

"It's no longer just a private road, it's just a terrible road, with 300 people living on it, with one way to get in or out," she said. "That's another big issue."

Pender County commissioner George Brown said he's very sympathetic to their needs. He said one of the problems was not having a homeowners association established. He added the county's planning department corrected the issue by making a rule for developers to create a homeowners group responsible for the upkeep of private roads or for developers to build roads up to state specifications, so NCDOT can take over.

"I live on a private road, so I understand the needs that they have because the individual land owners have to pay for the repairs," Brown said.

At this point, Brown said it can be a cumbersome process for Arvida. He added that county officials also reached out to legislators and the state's transportation department for options, but the issue involves the private road matter and NCDOT not having authority or responsibility.

"Road work is expensive and I hate it for those folks," Brown said. "Our county staff is still trying to see what they can to do to seek any help for these folks that might be available in a public way."

Brown added they haven't had much success.

"There's very little the county can do to help these people," he said. "We can not use public money for a private road in Pender County."

Finding a solution

Robert Larkin is the current president of the neighborhood group and is collecting money for improvements. He said it may cost $130,000 to fix problems and bring the roads up to adequate standards.

"That's really the story behind it," Larkin said. "How do you get people to pay for a road that they haven't had to because the developers half way did it and made it passible?"

Larkin is hoping relief may come through proposed "orphan road" legislation, which would allow communities like Arvida to borrow money from the county or state and pay it back for pavement services. But in the meantime, he's taking steps to make progress, such as implementing a policy where $20 is due each month (or a one time payment of $240) from the homes. He stopped calling it a donation.

"Basically, 10% of the community is taking care of the road and is having a hard time with it," he said. "That had some resolve and we're starting to get a little bit more money. But it's a slow go."

He would like to see county or state officials give direction or authority for the private roads and setting up some kind of tax or something for payments associated with the private roads.

"We're just left out on our own. We need help there. It's like 'Lord of the Flies,'" said Larkin, referring to the novel where a group of boys attempt to govern themselves without adults on an island led to chaos. "These are our neighbors, so we can't threaten them, but again, we really don't have any authority that I can see. It's more common in this state than you would think. That's what the orphan road bill is about."

Vice president Barry Marlowe is one of the residents who signed a contract with the original company and said it should be upheld for road maintenance.

"When you buy into something like that, you have no reason to think otherwise," Marlowe said. "I have no reason to think that 12 or 15 years later, I was going to be having to form some type of community group with vice presidents, presidents, raising money and begging for money from people who live here."

Marlowe said it's a tough battle for people who purchased property later with no written agreement, assuming something would be done about the roads. He added if it weren't for Tony Moore's work, emergency vehicles wouldn't be able to reach residents during emergencies.

"There's not a magic person that comes by and takes care of that for us," Marlowe said. "It's been really rough during the past five or six years."

Reporter Chase Jordan can be reached at cjjordan@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Wilmington StarNews: Rocky Point neighborhood roads, potholes remain. Who's responsible?