Special Road District #8

Frequently Asked Questions

1) What are the boundaries of the Special Road District #8?

Special Road District #8 includes Park, Lava, Twin, and Sparks Drives on both West and East sides of 5th street and Amber Lane. This includes the cross road of 1st (Yolo), 2nd through 8th streets from Park Drive to the end of the Sparks Drive owner's property lines. (See map).srd8_2021_8x11.pdf (deschutes.org) 

2) Who decides when the roads are graveled, graded and dust retardant put down? The Board of Directors decides based on the need, weather, and funds available for gravel and grading.  Dust retardant application is determined each year depending on budget considerations (product cost and available funds). 

2.5) What's with the deep ditches on the sides of the road? Here's an illustration of a gravel road cross section:  Gravel Road Contruction - Special Road District #8 (specialdistrict.org) These ditches allow water to flow from the road surface to the sides of the road.

3) Why doesn't the county take care of the roads? These are not county roads, but Local Access Roads. The Special Road District #8 members are responsible for the roads where we live. We, as represented by the board, have control over what happens to our roads. More about Special Road Districts in Deschutes County here: Special Road Districts | Deschutes County Oregon

4) Why don't we just pave the roads? This option was explored about 20+ years ago. We have 10.85 miles of road in the district. The first mile at the time would have cost $1,000,000 (one million dollars) and each additional road would be about $750,000 (seven hundred fifty thousand dollars). approximately $8,332,000 total (about 2000). To make this happen, we would have to increase our taxes significantly or "save" our current taxes and neglect our roads for over 126 years. 

5) Why were trees cut down in front of our houses? Trees within the right-of-way of the roads (30 feet from the center of the road) of the South side of Amber, Sparks and Twin were cut down in the Spring of 2016. The trees were cut to facilitate the melting of ice and snow on the roads during the Winter and for grading in the Spring. Tree removal on  Lava and Park were done the Spring of 2024. Please make sure you do not have any personal property in the easement zone.

6) What are the boundaries of the road? The right-of-way of the roads in Special Road District #8 are 30 feet either side of the center of the road. 

7) What can we do about drivers who speed or tear up the road? Members of the road district who observe speeding (over 25 MPH) or someone tearing up the road may call the Sheriff's office non emergency number. Please make a note of the license plate number, location, date and time of incident and a description of the driver if possible. Reckless driving is the charge.

8) How far out into the roadway easement can my paved driveway extend? You may take your pavement out 2 feet into the easement from your property line. Any further and you are liable for any damage to snow plow equipment hitting your pavement. These are county rules.

9) More information from the county on Special Road Districts in general: Special Road Districts | Deschutes County Oregon

 10) Why aren't we spending the money to put down dust retardant? 

The cost for Dust Retardant product has been  increasing rapidly. It now costs more to put down dust retardant than we take in in taxes for a full year. That would necessitate eliminate grading, gravel, insurance and other administrative costs from our budget. All records pertaining to how our Road District money was spent is in the treasurer's reports posted on this site. We did primarily grading and snow plowing this past.  For more information please attend a board meeting or call President Dean Bolden at 360-772-0358. 

11) Why does our snow plow contractor leave snow berms across our driveways? It would be cost prohibitive to eliminate snow berms in each of our 500 plus driveways. Even the County of Deschutes does not remove berms. More information here: 

12) Why should I attend a meeting? All Road District meetings are Board Meetings and are open to all members and the public. These meetings are for the board to meet and discuss a public issue, and to vote on it. It is not a pubic participation meeting, unless the board invites comment or questions. The purpose of the public meeting is to allow all decisions of the board to be observed by the public. Our manual is here: https://www.sdao.com/files/abb83e714/board-handbook.pdf

Please submit any questions you may have about our road district to the board by clicking on "Contact Us" on the main menu or below and fill out the form.