Subdivision Homeowners' Association Road Maintenance Independent Duty
McAbier v. Pleasant Valley West Club, PICS Case No. 17-1025 (C.P. Carbon May 26, 2017) Nanovic, J. (33 pages).
The plaintiffs, owners of units within a residential subdivision, failed to establish that the defendant owners' association and owner of the subdivision roads and common areas, had an independent affirmative duty to construct roads to comply with standards set forth in the original subdivision plans. The court granted defendant's motion to dismiss in part.
Pleasant Valley West is a 700-plus acre residential subdivision in Carbon County. Sellamerica, Ltd., originally laid out the development in 1973. Pocono Pleasant Valley Lake Estate, Inc. purchased the development in late 1973 and later conveyed title to all roads and common areas of the development to defendant Pleasant Valley West Club (Association), the property owners' association for the development. Plaintiffs own property within the development, specifically on or near Forest Lake Drive. Forest Lake Drive is unpaved in areas near plaintiffs' parcels and is too narrow for two vehicles to pass one another safely. Moreover, emergency vehicles are not able to turn around on the road, which is difficult and/or unsafe to use due to surface water run-off and resulting damage. According to plaintiffs, the original subdivision plans depicted Mohawk Drive, another road within the development that would otherwise have provided them with a second means of ingress and egress; however, the road was never built. Plaintiffs filed this lawsuit against the Association seeking a declaration that it had a duty to build, widen, pave and maintain Forest Lake Drive and Mohawk Drive in accordance with the specifications in the recorded final subdivision plans. The amended complaint asserted multiple counts that purported to set forth the bases for the Association's alleged duty to build and maintain the roads. The Association filed preliminary objections, arguing that plaintiffs' complaint was legally insufficient to sustain a cause of action. Plaintiffs failed to aver material facts sufficient to establish any duty on the part of the Association to ensure the building or improvement of the two roads according to specifications in the original plans, according to the Association. Plaintiffs relied on several theories, including the Association's assumption of the developer's obligations to build and improve roads, a fiduciary duty the Association owed to unit owners under the Uniform Planned Communities Act, obligations flowing by and between the parties arising from certain restrictive covenants that bound the Association to make the improvements and enforcement of the Association's bylaws. Absent special circumstances, an association that takes title to development roads from an original developer of a private residential community such as Pleasant Valley has no independent affirmative duty to construct roads to comply with standards set forth in original subdivision plans, the court explained. Accordingly, plaintiff's complaint was insufficient to sustain their claims, with two exceptions: their claims that the Association succeeded to the liability of the original developer and that the Association refused to maintain the existing development roads in a safe condition for vehicle travel and access to plaintiffs' properties.