The following reports were made by the General Manager at the October 28, 2006 quarterly meeting of the POATRI Board of Directors:

ISSUES RE ROAD ACCESS:

Gates & other barricades:

• Current policy allows gates and barricades under certain conditions. If those conditions are met the general membership loses access to the usage of those roads.
• Road maintenance ceases on the blocked roads, leading to serious deterioration which, should the situation change, puts more strain on resources to repair the damage done through years of neglect.
• Gates in some areas have been allowed to exist where technically the policy conditions have not been met. Some owners who have erected these gates will resist the removal of these gates because they have been “allowed” for some years.
• Some owners who have erected gates may be attempting to take this property through adverse possession.

 General Usage:

• Current policy states that all owners have the right of ingress and egress over all Terlingua Ranch roads through their membership in the Association. This includes the right to have guests on these roads. There is nothing in POATRI documents that prohibits or restricts the usage, although there are policies regarding commercial use, which has been interpreted to mean “usage for monetary gain.”
• “Commercial usage” has not been applied to owner business traffic, but to larger concerns such as mining operations.
• The ingress/egress easement has been interpreted to mean the right to travel all Terlingua Ranch roads, by any means, without impediment. It has also been interpreted that State trespass laws do not apply to the easement as regards through travel.
• Trespass laws apply to use of private property, loitering on the roads or use of the roads for other than ingress/egress.

General Access:

• There are a number of areas of Terlingua Ranch that are accessible only using roads that traverse non-Terlingua Ranch property.
• Although POATRI has maintained these sections of non-county roads for years, the Association holds no formal easement.
•  The possibility exists that some Terlingua Ranch property could become “landlocked,” although courts may uphold individual owners rights of access.

The following reports were made by the General Manager at the July 29, 2006 quarterly meeting of the POATRI Board of Directors:

ROAD ACCESS TASK FORCE REPORT

The purpose of this task force is to locate and map all gates and other barricades to free access by owners on Terlingua Ranch roads.

The members of the task force have been taking GPS readings at various gates. We are about 50% complete on this phase of the project. We will then map the gates to verify owners of the property on which they are located.

We hope to have the mapping completed by the October meeting. The volunteers on this project have committed many hours thus far and deserve our thanks for their commitment to assisting us in a very time-consuming process.

In the meantime, we are acting upon owner complaints and access issues as they arise. Usually gating issues can be satisfactorily handled through one on one contact.

A reminder to all of our owners, gating or otherwise barricading a Terlingua Ranch road is allowed only under certain circumstances. I refer you to the current Board Policies & Procedures Manual, Section II, subsection 1.

TERLINGUA RANCH ROAD DEDICATION REPORT

As directed by the Board at the April, 2006, meeting, I have contacted the 15 property owners through whose property the last three miles of Terlingua Ranch Road runs. Nine owners have returned the signed confirmation forms in agreement to dedicating the surface estate of the road to Brewster County. Two owners have called to verbally agree and promise the signed forms.

In an attempt to address the easement questions raised by three owners, I contacted the County attorney. Steve Houston informed me that the 60 foot easement is non-negotiable as it is required by Texas State Law. However, he took some pains to point out to me that the actual roadway used by the County is, in general, approximately 40 feet, and that the county has never forced the issue on the additional 20 feet. Brewster County Road and Bridge Supervisor, French Causey, told me that any actual paved roadway would be 24 feet wide. I will provide this information to the owners concerned, however, I am unsure as to whether this will be reassurance enough to alleviate these owners concerns.

Three owners have responded in writing expressing concerns regarding the required 60 foot easement, although they have also expressed a desire to cooperate with the dedication. One owner has communicated a desire to move the portion of the road going through his property at his cost. I have provided that owner with a cost estimate of such a re-route based on building the new portion to the same specifications of the current road, which the County would require.

The necessary 60 foot easement requires the property owner to “give, grant and convey unto Brewster County a 60 foot surface estate” to the property in question. The owner retains ownership of the dirt, but gives up the right of usage. This requirement may relegate any voluntary dedication of the last three miles of Terlingua Ranch to the realm of the impossible, although I will, of course, continue to pursue the issue.

EXEMPT PROPERTY REPORT -- NOTE: This report addresses itself ONLY to the issue of the exemption from assessments. Any issues regarding the membership rights of owners of exempt property are beyond the scope of this report.

The concept of exempt property on Terlingua Ranch originates in the Terlingua Ranch Maintenance Association agreement, filed of record by the developer on October 20, 1971

From the TRMA:

• Exhibit A describes the property called Terlingua Ranch, together with any additional property which developer may add to the terms of the TRMA. Exhibit A lists the initial deeds conveying property to Great Western/Terramar which was subsequently subdivided into various tracts.
• Exhibit B lists the same deeds, and in addition, lists specific property as “excluded.” Exhibit B is the “Subject Property” wherever used in the TRMA.
• Subject Property (Exhibit B) is referenced only in Sec. I of the TRMA regarding the assessment of fees and again in Sec. VII regarding the lien for non-payment of fees.
• Sec. IV, TRMA clearly states: “The Maintenance Fund shall be used by Administrator for the common good and benefit of owners of Terlingua Ranch without regard to whether or not maintenance funds are collected from the benefited portion of Terlingua Ranch.”
• Owners of exempt property are still liable for assessments on non-exempt property that they may own or purchase. Currently there are 493 owner accounts that own only exempt property and therefore are not assessed fees.

While the original Exhibit B exclusion applies to approximately 1,000 tracts, Terramar, in their original deeds to owners, withdrew the exclusion from approximately 50% of these tracts. However, Terramar, exercising the developer’s right, also specifically exempted some non-Exhibit B properties from assessments.

In order to verify exclusions, it is necessary to research back to the original Terramar deed to the original buyer. Subsequent sellers may not exclude a non-exempt property from assessments, nor can POATRI as Administrator of the fund exclude individual properties. We began this deed research process in 2005 as part of the delinquency clean up and are continuing it still. Decisions regarding the payment of assessments will be based in Texas real estate law and will be made administratively when conclusive.

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