(a) In residential subdivisions in which the property owners are represented by a nonprofit corporation whose membership is composed of the owners of lots in the subdivision, (herein referred to as “owners association”) the owners association may petition the county council to have the streets within their subdivision conveyed to the owners association by the county. The petition must be signed by the president or a vice-president of the organization confirming each of the following:
(1) A 66 % majority of the members of the owners association have voted in a duly-called meeting of the owners association (hereinafter referred to as “owners association meeting”) to submit to the members for a vote the issue of transferring the roads to the owners association;
(2) Within a period of 45 days following the owners association meeting a 66 % majority vote of the non-owner occupied resident members (as defined below) voting and an 80% majority vote of the owner-occupied resident members (as defined below) voting have approved the transfer of the roads to the association;
(3) The vote taken in subsection (2) above was by written secret ballot and the vote was counted and verified in writing to the owners association by an independent accounting firm;
(4) Each owners association member had a minimum period of 10 days in which to cast such member’s vote following the date the written ballot was mailed by first class mail or delivered to such member; and
(5) The petition has been filed with county council within 75 days of the owners association meeting.
An owner-occupied resident member means an owners association member that owns and occupies a residence within the subdivision. A nonowner-occupied resident member means an owners association member other than an owner-occupied resident member.
(b) The procedure provided by this section shall be available only to residential subdivisions which do not include any streets which are necessary or essential for general traffic purposes to members of the public. All of the streets which are subject to the petition must be internal to the subdivision and essential only for purposes of gaining access to homes, amenities, common areas and other properties within the subdivision itself. If the subdivision includes amenities which are owned and operated by a separate nonprofit organization, such as a country club, tennis club, or golf club, then the streets are eligible for transfer under this section so long as the separate organization is also a member of the owners association, or has a contractual relationship to the owners association, so as to assure that the members of the separate organization will have the right to use the streets which are necessary to gain access to such amenities.
(c) In order to be eligible for ownership of the streets in a subdivision, the owners association must demonstrate in its petition that its organizational documents, restrictive covenants, and other instruments contain sufficient authority to assure that it will be able to raise the funds needed to maintain the roads through periodic and special assessments against the property owners who comprise its membership, together with the authority to enforce such assessments by placing liens upon the properties of those members who decline to pay their share.
(d) In order to initiate such a petition, the owners association will file a written request with the road and bridge department. The road and bridge department will conduct such studies and research as it deems necessary in order to make a recommendation to the county council. In formulating its recommendation, the road and bridge department will seek to determine whether the association has the legal and financial capability to maintain the streets as private streets and otherwise assure that the condition, maintenance, and utilization of the streets will meet the standards required of developers and associations who elect not to dedicate the streets in a residential subdivision but to allow those streets to remain private under the Greenville County subdivision regulations. The road and bridge department will also notify affected public agencies and public utilities and inquire of them whether they have any objections to the transfer of subdivision streets to the owners association and what their requirements may be. All of these requirements will be relayed to the owners association by the road and bridge department within 90 days of receipt of the application. The owners association will have the responsibility for making necessary arrangements, granting appropriate easements, and otherwise meeting the requirements of public agencies and public utilities as they pertain to private residential streets.
(e) County council shall conduct a public hearing to receive information from residents of the areas, public utilities, public agencies, and others affected as to the advisability of the transfer. The public hearing will be conducted following the posting of suitable notices at the subdivision and after 15 days’ notice of the public hearing in a newspaper of general circulation in the county. After the hearing, the county council will refer the question to its public service, planning, and development committee.
(f) The road and bridge department will submit its recommendation and report to the public service, planning and development committee. If the public service, planning and development committee recommends approval of the request, it shall submit a recommendation to the county council, designating by name the streets to be transferred to the owners association, together with such other details as the committee shall deem pertinent to the council’s consideration.
(g) Upon approval by a majority of the members of the county council voting upon such recommendation in a regular meeting, the county shall issue a quit-claim deed to the streets which are the subject of such petition to the owners association.
(h) The owners association submitting any such application shall be required to pay an application fee of $250 and to submit with its application the proposed form of a quit-claim deed to be utilized for such purposes.
(i) Following the transfer of the streets in a subdivision pursuant to the procedure set forth above, the county shall have no further responsibility for the maintenance of those streets. The streets shall in all respects have the same status as residential subdivision streets which were not dedicated to the county by the developer when the subdivision was initially approved. The owners association will prepare the following documents and record them simultaneously with the deed transferring the streets:
(1) Revised subdivision plat(s) depicting the streets as private streets and noting that owners of property in the subdivision have easements over those streets to gain access to 1 or more adjacent public roads; and
(2) An amendment to the restrictive covenants of the subdivision, if necessary, to grant or confirm the easement rights of property owners and the power of the owners association to impose assessments for the monies required to maintain the streets.
(j) Rededication of any roads transferred hereunder shall not be considered unless such roads meet the subdivision standards in effect at the time of the dedication.
(k) If a petition requesting the transfer of roads in subsection (a) above is either denied by county council or withdrawn by the owners association, then the owners association may not file another petition requesting the transfer of roads for a period of 2 consecutive years from the date the petition was denied or withdrawn.
(1976 Code, § 18-46) (Ord. 2529, § 1, passed 12-6-1993; Ord. 2658, §§ 1, 2, passed 11-21-1994)