Homeowners group halts Sixes Road maintenance

Residents may soon start to see litter pile up along Sixes Road from Interstate 575 interchange exit 11 to Bells Ferry Road.

The Sixes Road Community Association, which has paid to maintain the corridor for the last three years, recently suspended weekly landscaping and trash removal until further notice.

Funded by the $20-per-household dues collected each year from member homeowners' organizations, the SCRA's $67,800 annual budget paid for the services.

The decision to halt landscaping and litter pick-up came as the SCRA faces a $50,000 gap in its 2011 budget resulting from the withdrawal of the BridgeMill neighborhood's membership.

The BridgeMill Community Association, which joined the Sixes organization in 2009, decided to submit a 12-month notice of withdrawal at the end of that same year.

"(The BMCA board) voted not to renew participation to be able to get out in front to provide ourselves with necessary reflection to make a decision in 2010 regarding 2011 participation," said Russ Caso, president of the BMCA.

He said the BMCA board offered to pay half of its previous dues, but the Sixes association declined the offer.

Caso said the board's decision was based on priorities for inner-community maintenance and projects funded by the neighborhood's $150 assessment fee per home.

"Due to the fact that the BMCA dues to SRCA had been $50,000 per year, the BMCA board felt that such funding would better serve the property owners of BridgeMill by investing in BMCA infrastructure," he said.

Now, the leaders of SRCA are trying to figure out how to both increase funding and keep already participating neighborhoods on board.

"About 95 percent of the residents around here don't know who takes care of the road," SRCA Vice President Mark Preetarius said. "They honestly believe the county is doing it, but the truth is it doesn't and can't afford to."

Geoff Jones, the association's president, said its board is informing homeowners about what the loss of the services could mean.

"The easy thing would be to pack up the tent, but a lot of hard work went into putting this organization together," said the Highland Point resident.

By the summer, Jones said, the trash on the medians, which were added to the road in 2007, will start to become noticeable.

"This is a very unique situation," he said. "This was not crafted as a master plan. It's all voluntary support. ... We have a nice parkway, and we want to ensure it looks nice. We care about this community."