IMPERIAL, Mo. — It's no secret that potholes can cause huge problems for your car, but people in Jefferson County say they're pitching in hundreds of dollars per year to fix their issue and getting no help from their HOA.
From the outside looking in, Quiet Forest looks like any other subdivision in Jefferson County.
“It’s typically a very quiet neighborhood,” said Brittany Bond. “There’s not much going on.”
For the last several months that silence has been broken up by an all too familiar sound.
“The roads have just gone to pot,” said Margaret Ossenfort.
“There are potholes big enough to drive a tank off into and wonder where it went,” said Rusty Smith.
“It looks like our road got bombed,” said Shellie Tippet. “There’s just asphalt chunks everywhere.”
Seemingly everyone in Quiet Forest has a horror story from simply driving down the street.
“It’s been tearing up my van since I moved in,” Tippet said. “I had a flat tire last week.”
“I had to have my car fixed last week because the pan was cracked,” said Ossenfort. “It started leaking oil.”
“I personally had to sell my last car because the road tore it up,” said Bond. “The front-end alignment, the tie rods went bad, we’ve popped a couple of tires on this road. The HOA isn’t taking care of anything.”
Per their HOA agreement, residents of Quiet Forest are required to pay $200 a year for road maintenance, but they say it’s been at least a year since anyone worked on it.
“My kids can’t even be normal kids and ride their bike on this street,” Bond said.
“I would like to have a whole new road bed in here the year before last,” Smith said.
5 On Your Side reporter Holden Kurwicki spoke with members of the HOA Board who indicated that they’re aware of the problem and are working to cold patch spots like this as soon as this Saturday.
Meanwhile, they’re also accepting bids to resurface portions of the road, but they’re working on a limited budget.
“Patching it has gotten to the point where it’s almost useless,” Smith said.
“It feels like a waste of money,” Tippet said.
With only $8,000 to put towards a six-figure fix, it could be some time before the HOA is able to smooth things out.
“They need to take care of something before wintertime,” Bond said. “If the road doesn’t get patched up before the first snowfall, we won’t be able to get plow service.”