Joe Fitzgerald was on a mission when he spoke at the community club’s annual meeting and again at the board of directors’ monthly meeting the following week.
Disappointed that the street he lives on, Trentwood Drive, was scheduled for chip-and-seal replacement when nearby streets were paved with asphalt, Fitzgerald had these questions for the board:
What process does the community club use to determine which roads are prioritized for paving?Who on the board decides which roads will be paved?Why is there no written agreement between the county and the community club for paving of roads?Why doesn’t the board publish the list of roads scheduled for paving each year?What becomes of any unused money for road work in any fiscal year?
Fitzgerald, speaking at the annual meeting Sept. 19 at The Center, said some of the community club’s infrastructure was more than 50 years old and in need of attention.
“And I argue that water, electricity and roads are far more critical to our community’s future than golf courses, pools or lakes,” he said, adding that the roads are “an especially troubling question.”
Fitzgerald said he has tried to get information on road work procedures from community club staff but “came away with very little clarity.”
He said he met with the county attorney and roads superintendent and as a result of that meeting posed his questions to the board.
Board of directors President Greg Jones told Fitzgerald at the board’s Sept. 25 meeting that getting answers to his questions will take some time.
“Some of those answers are going to require us meeting with the county,” he said. “We will meet with the county, and we will be talking to them about how we’re going to go forward with roads. We will answer your questions.”
He said “we’re going to involve the right people to make sure we get the right answers.”
The issue of roads was included in a survey of the membership last May, with 29% responding. The company that conducted the survey concluded roads and lighting were the “best opportunities for enhancing the community’s common areas.”
The survey showed that 2.3% of the respondents indicated Fairfield Glade’s roads were “very poor,” 13.4% indicated they were “poor,” 33.1% indicated they were “average,” 39.7% indicated they were “good,” and 10.1% indicated they were “excellent.” Of the remaining participants, 1.3% were listed as “N/A,” and 0.1% were unaccounted for.
The county’s budgeting for road work was a concern expressed by County Commissioner Joe Sherrill, 6th District, who represents a portion of Fairfield Glade.
He told the Glade Sun the 2025-26 highway budget allows for 18 miles of asphalt paving and 64 miles of chip-and-seal covering for the entire county. He said there normally is not enough funding for that much road work but that the commission added $2.9 million to the highway superintendent’s budget this year.
“We are working to get him some more funds for more roads,” Sherrill wrote in an email message.
He said the county needs to recycle asphalt every 20 years and recycle chip-and-seal every 10 years to have “acceptable roads all around the county.” It costs about $160,000 per mile to replace asphalt and about $30,000 for chip-and-seal.
“Currently, we can not meet that need.”
In Fairfield Glade, the community club pays for asphalt paving, and the county pays for chip-and-seal work.
Trentwood Drive was among 25 Fairfield Glade roads scheduled for chip-and-seal replacement in recent weeks.