The SLE Homeowner’s Association owns equipment used for plowing and maintaining the roads. The roads committee is responsible for overseeing the road maintenance, snow plowing, and weed control. SLE has more than 20 miles of roads.
Plowing/Grading Map link:
Yellow highlighted roads are done first. Heavy black roads are second. The remainder are done after the others are finished.
Snow Plowing
The roads committee has experienced operators that have been instructed on how and when to plow the roads. Snow berms will be left on all driveways. Care will be exercised to keep them as low as possible. It is the responsibility of the homeowner to remove their own berms and not to block the main roads by plowing their driveway out onto the roads. For details, see the letter from February 2000 explaining the SLE policies on road plowing. Our plow operators try to leave as small a berm as possible in front of the drives. However, there are currently over 150 homes in our community and growing. Even if it only took 5 minutes to do each driveway, it would take over 12 hours to do every drive.
Road Grading
Roads are the number one priority in our community. If you take a look at our Budget, you will notice that more than 55% of your dues money goes directly towards the roads and road equipment maintenance. There is considerable overhead as well, including weed control, grader loan, insurance, fuel, and some miscellaneous which brings the total budget dedicated to the roads to over 85% of the yearly budget. Also, all of the money from the SBA special assessment was applied to the roads for much needed improvements.We are sometimes asked if we could grade our roads more often. The best conditions for grading our road occur after a significant amount of rain has fallen. Not only does this keep the dust from becoming a problem during grading, but also allows the rock to settle back into the road surface. If the road is too dry, the rock will simply slide off into the ditches if we try to grade them. If too wet, potholes will pop up faster than we can grade. Ideally, we should water the roads (with a water truck), grade them, roll them (with a large, heavy roller) and water them again. However, we can’t afford a water truck, or the water, or a heavy roller for each time we grade. So we have to depend on mother nature to provide us with the proper weather for grading. Our roads have actually been improved by the addition of gravel, and installation of dry wells and culverts. To make improvements as was done in Spirit Lake would require more money than what we take in every year. To do this we would either have to drastically raise dues or levy a large special assessment. These are private roads, not city roads, and grants are very difficult to find for private road improvement. The county will not pave our roads because our roads are not (nor have they ever been) up to county standard. We would have to bring them up to county standards ourselves (which would be very costly) before they would consider taking them over. These are private roads, owned by all members of the SLE Homeowner’s Association. Your property taxes go towards maintaining the county roads you drive on outside of the community. If you have any questions about your tax bill, please call the Kootenai County Assessors Office.
Dust Control
Dust can be controlled by oiling the roads or other alternative means.
Oiling Roads
The downside to oiling is an increased number of potholes. Other methods of dust control employ the application of a cohesive agent to the road, which causes the dirt to “clump.” This produces far fewer potholes, but is more costly. The homeowner’s association is not responsible for dust control. Past records show that the cost of oiling roads is approximately $6000 per linear mile. We have nearly 26 miles of roadway. Additionally, oiling of dirt roads increases the number of potholes. Oiled roads can not be graded without re-applying the oil after grading. Some homeowners oil the roads in front of their homes. If you are one of them: Contact your Road Committee before you oil your roads. Oiling your roads before grading is a waste of your time and effort.
Off-Road Vehicles
Off Road Vehicles are allowed in SLE ONLY for work use. This is a quiet community and recreational use of dirt bikes, snow mobiles, and ATVs is not allowed under the CC&Rs. For more details, see Lawyer Letter ATV Usage.
Weed Control
Idaho law states that each homeowner is responsible for the control of any noxious weeds found on their property. If you need any assistance with application rates, equipment calibration, identifying weed species, cost-share programs, etc., please call or come by the Kootenai County Weed Control Office.
Sandy Daniel
Kootenai County Weed Supervisor
208-772-9239
11140 Airport Drive Hayden, ID 83835