Calabria residents, developer, officials walk through area

Thursday, August 28, 2014
Calabria Subdivision developer Joe Giorgioni, right, foreground, shouts at Red Willow County roads superintendent Gary Dicenta during a walk-through on the subdivision roads Wednesday evening. "I don't want no ditches," Giorgioni said emphatically. Giorgioni stopped short of saying he owns the subdivision roads, at which point he would be responsible for their maintenance. (Connie Jo Discoe/McCook Gazette)

McCOOK, Neb. -- The developer wants no ditches. Residents want passable roads. The county road superintendent doesn't want a "half-assed" restoration road project.

Red Willow County, Nebraska, roads superintendent Gary Dicenta walked, in the rain, with residents through the Calabria Subdivision northeast of McCook Wednesday evening, telling them what may happen if the county goes ahead with a road project okayed by two of three county commissioners.

Dicenta told residents that the grading and gravel they requested from the county won't fix problems with their roads that have existed and worsened steadily since the subdivision opened in 2000.

Red Willow County roads supervisor Gary Dicenta, left, in left photo, explains to Don and Linda Hunkins the drainage and ditch changes that may happen to their front yard if the county does a reconstruction project in the Calabria Subdivision. Linda said she is tired of the controversy over their subdivision roads. "It really is a piece of paradise out here," she said. (Connie Jo Discoe/McCook Gazette)

"Things have been half-assed out here for years," Dicenta said, explaining that blading the roads and spreading gravel won't fix road problems. Dicenta said the county would have to address problems with ditches and drainage long before they could grade and gravel. "The county won't do it half-assed," Dicenta promised.

Any work done at the entrance of the subdivision will have to consider the very high-power electrical boxes positioned there and a Bureau of Reclamation water canal that passes by on the east. Any work on the Bureau's property would have to be presented to and approved by the Bureau, Dicenta said. The trees on the west side of the entrance area won't need to be touched, he said.

Dicenta said that most of the homes on the west side of Calabria Drive -- that drive is proposed as the first phase of a county project -- won't see a lot of changes, except maybe cutting down high areas of dirt and grass along the road-side of the ditches. Crowning the road gently will also direct water into the ditch, he said.

Most of the ditch work will have to be done on the east side of Calabria Drive, with easements required from homeowners to create and/or rebuild ditches with nice gentle slopes and flat bottoms, and/or move utilities.

If a homeowner does not grant an easement, the county has to respect that and stay off that property, Dicenta said. "The county can't do anything without permission" from property owners, he said. Without an easement, however, the back slope of a ditch may have to be straight up-and-down rather than gently sloped, he said.

No landowner can be forced to grant an easement, Dicenta said. If enough homeowners decline to let the county on their property and/or have easements, the whole project could be in jeopardy, he said.

About half-way through the walk on Calabria Drive, developer Joe Giorgioni joined the residents and Dicenta, telling Dicenta that the county's plans "are all garbage. Why move all the utilities?" he said, saying that the expense to do so would be outrageous.

Dicenta said that moving the utilities where necessary and creating ditches would return the roads to their original condition. "I don't want no ditches," Giorgioni shouted.

Giorgioni told Dicenta, "All we asked for was gravel. We ask for $200 a month." And to residents, he said emphatically, "You don't want these people in here. They'll mess it up."

Giorgioni said the county "screwed up 14 years ago" by not maintaining the roads. Fourteen years ago, Dicenta said, the City of McCook approved the subdivision plat and plans, with road rights-of-way built to city standards of 60 feet, not county right-of-way standards of 66 feet. Official documentation then stipulates that the city will not be responsible for the maintenance of the subdivision roads.

Giorgioni asked, "Why City of McCook have anything to do out here?" Because the subdivision is within the city's two-mile jurisdiction, Dicenta said. The county has nothing to do with setting that jurisdiction, he said, it's state statute.

The condition of -- or lack of -- ditches is a concern within the subdivision, as well as corn crops growing through the ditches right up to the roads. Dicenta says that 90 percent of the subdivision's road problems stems from the corn crop intruding on the ditches and in some places, onto the road itself. Standing water undermines road beds, Dicenta has explained.

Giorgioni told Dicenta, there is "no problem with grass growing to the road. Once the rain stops, the rain (water) is gone."

Giorgioni said he sees no problem with himself and residents taking care of their own roads, although one resident shouted, "But you haven't" taken care of the roads or drainage problems that leave standing water along the roads.

Giorgioni is concerned with the cost of and who has to pay if utilities have to be moved. Giorgioni still owns about nine lots that have not been sold, lots upon which utility boxes are positioned. He said he already pays $35,000 a year in taxes.

Adam Wolford, the subdivision resident who approached commissioners about maintaining the roads most recently, told Giorgioni that he's "with you. We want the county to be responsible. We don't want to pay extra either."

One resident suggested that a homeowners' association "would take the city and county out of it," leaving residents and property owners responsible for their own roads and maintenance. (If the area were to be annexed by the city, it would be the developer's responsibility to pave streets, create curb and gutter, and to provide sewer and water, Dicenta said earlier in the evening).

Giorgioni said he has already asked the farmer to stop farming the land within the subdivision, saying that he has allowed it only to prevent having 71 acres of weeds. "I don't get nothing from it," Giorgioni said.

Dicenta said Giorgioni doesn't have to stop the farmer from planting, just keep the crop away from the ditches and roads.

Continuing their walk down the road -- leaving a disgruntled Giorgioni and a small group of residents behind -- Dicenta said that some ditches are obviously working well, directing water around corners and toward a collection pond on the southwest corner of the subdivision. Others are not, and some homeowners need culverts under their driveways to keep water moving to the southwest. One homeowner needs to raise her drive and install a bigger pipe, Dicenta explained.

Dicenta said heavy rains are actually beneficial. "Gully-washers clean out pipes (culverts)," he said. Little rains just allow pipes to fill with silt and debris, he said.

The whole project boils down to a ruling anticipated by county attorney Paul Wood. If Wood declares that the subdivision roads are not the county's responsibility, it's possible that commissioners may reverse their 2-1 decision (Vesta Dack and Steve Downer, for; Earl McNutt, against) to provide maintenance. Dack walked along with Calabria residents and Dicenta.

Wood is expected at the commissioners' next meeting scheduled at 9 a.m., Monday, Sept. 8, in the commissioners' room on the third floor of the courthouse.

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  • Red Willow County Commissioners, get out of this mess while you can. Let Joe Brick put a little gravel down, he'll fix it! LOL.

    -- Posted by fit2btied on Fri, Aug 29, 2014, at 11:40 PM
  • Amen!!!!!

    -- Posted by S&P1958 on Mon, Sep 1, 2014, at 10:37 AM
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