Fall River Special Road District

As part of a wildfire mitigation project work on the road easements will be done this Spring. Notice is HERE. PLEASE READ!

Fall River Special Road District

As part of a wildfire mitigation project work on the road easements will be done this Spring. Notice is HERE. PLEASE READ!

About the fall river special road district

Heron with fish on the Fall River. Deschutes County Oregon. Photo by Alice Carey-Swanson

History of Fall River Estates Special Road District

Established on November 3, 1992 in Deschutes County, Oregon under ORS 371.

Fall River Estates was formed in 1967. It consisted of thirty-five lots across the street from thirteen unincorporated lots. In 1969 the First Addition was added to the neighborhood. The Second Addition was added in 1977. The roads were not paved.
The first members of the SRD board in 1993 were:

Bud Regan

Dwayne Helbig

Evan Pruitt

The road coming into FR from South Century Drive is a county road (Fall River Drive), but just after you cross the bridge, over the Fall River, the roads are all part the Road District. In 1991, the neighborhood saw that the bridge was not going to last much longer. The poor condition of the bridge presented an immediate public safety problem, which necessitated the formation of the Road District so that a new bridge could be built. Creating a Special District required a ballot measure be produced by the County and passed with a majority of all property owners in the Fall River Estates neighborhood. The measure passed and The Fall River Estates Special Road District was formed and the new bridge was built.

Notice from SRD Board regarding the speed limit within Fall River Estates

Fall River neighbors,

Over the past few years, the Special Road District has been approached by residents complaining of excessive speeding by residents, contractors and delivery trucks. The SRD contacted ODOT, Deschutes County Sheriff’s department and Deschutes County Road department for information on what remedies are available to address this issue. The County Road department informed us that Fall River Estates qualifies as a rural residential area and as such has, by law, a 25mph speed limit. The Sheriff's Department stated they will enforce the legal speed limit in Fall River Estates.

As some of you may have noticed, the SPEED 15MPH signs on Yellowpine Loop and River Loop have been replaced with SPEED LIMIT 25MPH signs. These signs now make clear the enforceable legal speed limit.

If you observe vehicle speeds in excess of the 25mph speed limit please contact the Sheriff's department at:

Non-Emergency Dispatch (541) 693-6911

Sincerely,

Fall River Special Road District

Ron Brown

Rick Bestwick

Bill Swanson

More about the SRD

The Fall River Special District is a member of the SDAO - Special Districts Association of Oregon.
The SRD is insured with SDIS - Special Districts Insurance Services
There are 2.2 miles of roads in Fall River Estates. There are 126 lots in Fall River, some of which are part of the FREHOA, some are not. The Fall River Special Road District is an independent municipal corporation and is not part of the HOA. It is supported by all landowners within the SRD through their property taxes at a rate of less than a tenth of a percent (.09876%) of assessed value. Thank You! The SRD deposits this money in the bank and holds it in reserve for large paving projects, which are needed every 6-8 years. In addition, the money is spent for insurance and road repairs that come up periodically. One large expense is snow removal, which runs from $3000 (mild winters) to $10,000 (severe winters)
In addition to the tax revenue, the SRD, for several years, was fortunate to receive an annual contribution from the local homeowners association. The FRE-HOA collected monies from its members and from the homeowners who are not part of the HOA and passed it along to the SRD to help defray the cost of snow removal. Throughout the years, these contributions enabled the Road District to save and accrue enough money for chip sealing when needed.
Since the roads were resurfaced in 2017, inflation has gone up significantly: inflation averaged 3.62% increase per year between 2017 and 2023, a cumulative inflation amount of 24.60% . This increases the cost of snow removal and, importantly, the cost of crack repairs, and will considerably increase the cost when it is time again to re-chip-seal our roads. The annual contribution from members of the Fall River Estates HOA has been a tremendous help to our Special Road District so they can save money for our future repaving\chip sealing.

If you wish to contribute to the Fall River Estates Special Road District you can contact them via email at frespecialroaddistrict@gmail.com or send your donation to their address PO Box 4181 Bend, OR 97707

Snow in Fall River

Winter in Fall River is beautiful! We always get snow! How much? It's different every year, but it's always between half a foot to four feet. No worries; we have the best people plowing our roads.

The contract with our snow plowing contractor reads:

"... start snow removal work within two hours of six inches of snow accumulation... "

About this website

My husband and I have owned our home in Fall River for over twenty years. During that time we have both served on various boards and participated in several projects and work parties, which have improved the community. I built this website so that the landowners, the taxpayers, in the Fall River had a place to go to get information about our Special Road District. I post here information that is available to the public - the meeting agendas and minutes, the financial reports, notices, and other information. The SRD has not paid for this site, nor have they paid me for any services. The board has always tried to be transparent and open with us, but website building and maintenance, and ownership is expensive. Our SRD board does not send out mass emails on a regular basis; they do not want to burden the SRD members with all that volume of information in their in-box. It is my hope that this website allows the SRD board to minimize their expenses while providing good transparency. Road paving and maintenance is expensive and this allows the SRD board to retain more of the tax revenues for the real purpose of the SRD. The SRD board members serve on a volunteer basis and I am happy to further that spirit of volunteerism by offering my services.

I hope you find this website informative and helpful. If you have any comments or questions regarding this site, please contact me via my contact page.

Thank you

Alice Carey-Swanson