On behalf of the residents of the Rowell Estates Condominium Association, an over 55 complex, we are writing in support of Warrant Article #28. The association is comprised of 40 units clustered around a 1/5 mile long cul-de-sac named Ash Drive.
The Association has been occupied since 2003, and the remaining units were completed in 2005. During that period of time, the Association has maintained the road and paid an additional fee to have trash pick up within the property.
We have petitioned the Board of Selectmen through the warrant process to accept our road as a public road. At the deliberative meeting held on February 2, the selectman stated that the road was always intended to remain private. They also inferred that the residents did not read their condo documents prior to purchasing the property because, if they had, they would realize that that was the case. Nothing could be further from the truth. A close reading of our condominium documents reveals that there is not a single place within the document where it states that the road will remain explicitly private.
In the Declaration of the Condominium filed with the Rockingham Registry of Deeds on May 16, 2003, it states that the Declarant (Developer) will create… a public road…for the benefit of said community. Further, in the same document the definition of the public road states…means a sixty foot (60’) right-of-way…. To be constructed by the declarant in accordance with the plan and to be deeded to the Town of Kingston as a public way.
There is no language within the documents (Declaration, By Laws, Certificate of Registration) all filed at the Registry in 2003 that suggest anything other than the fact that the road was to be public and to be deeded to the town.
As property owners we are paying and have paid the full tax rate without receiving the benefit of the services that were clearly intended to be provided at the outset of our contracts. Whether it was intended by the Planning Board and Selectmen to be private and paid for exclusively by the residents of Rowell Estates or not, the net result is we have been paying out of pocket for something that should have been provided by the town from the outset. To suggest that we simply did not read our documents is not fair and neither is it fair to charge us for a service we are not receiving.
We are simply asking for the Town to now do the right thing. The right thing is to vote yes on Article 28.
Larry Heath, President
Board of Directors
Rowell Estates Condominium Association
