Q2 2025 Road Status: The main road at both entrances to Millsite Village have been graded and rocked. As per the road plan (below), grading and rocking has already been completed from the Senator Gate up to where Lot #3 meets Tract C (see plat map below). The section of road that goes across Lots #3 and #4 will be skipped over until major work on the switchback that resides on Lot #5 is completed. We need about $6,000 to do that section of road ($4K Material and $2K Labor). If there is leftover material, it will be used to rock the section of road crossing lots #3 and #4 – which is top of the list for next year. Hopefully we can get enough people to pay their dues (plus some extra donations) to get close enough to do the lot #5 work this fall.
History: The roads in Millsite Village are complicated from a legal perspective. First, I will point your attention to the plat map below. If you zoom into it, you can see that “Tract E” is designated as the roads through the use of dotted lines.
The uniqueness of our road situation is this: our roads (Tract E) are “privately owned common area”. Each lot owner owns their section of road, but any member can have access to it. However, if you read the CC&R’s section, you would have noticed that there are lots who are not members of the POA but reside between the gates. How does that work with respect to the roads? Simple. POA members have a prescriptive easement via Tract E through non-member lots and vice-versa. You cannot legally block access across Tract E.
Which comes to the gates. One thing our CC&R’s are very specific about is that “the common areas are to be limited to owners and guests“. The CC&R’s clearly spell out what areas are considered common. Tract E, the road, is one of them. There are gates at both ends of Millsite Village to achieve that goal.
Gates: The gates are to be kept locked at all times. The gates are privately owned. When consulting my lawyer, he said that this type of situation where the gates are privately owned is not uncommon. As long as everyone who should have access, does have access, all is good. Fortunately, the property owners who currently own each gate are very much in line with the goals of keeping the roads private and free from tourists.
Road Plan: In 2024, we experimented with a different strategy for managing the roads: Specifically, we started to clear out the original drainage ditches and we began covering the road surface with 1″+ rock. You can see this rock at either entrance to Millsite. The board continue to feel very positive about the results. Moving forward, our road plan is such:
Beginning at the Senator side of Millsite and moving towards the Black Lode gate, we will use the majority of each year’s funds, if not all of them to continue clearing out drainage ditches, culverts and rocking the surface of the road with 1″+ material (assuming it is available). It will take years to complete this project because our income is so tiny ($175 x 29 lots).
This is why we will be asking homeowners in Millsite to “round up” the annual dues to $500. It’s purely voluntary, but the rationale behind this request is that homeowners use the roads much more than lot owners. We would like to complete the roads as soon as possible. Anyone donating money, services or resources to the POA will be recognized in the Thank You section.
Next Steps? Once the main road between gates has been completed, we can move onto improving the upper road and then finally onto the Lake Drive.
Millsite Village Property Owners Association 