For years, Fox Briar road and court have been in a state of disrepair, and one resident is looking for a path to a solution.

Lee Gary says the road he lives on is so bad that local taxis refuse to travel it.

The less than three-quarters-of-a-mile road is “tearing up” neighborhood cars, says Gary. Wrecks and problems for emergency vehicles can also be chalked up to the poor state of the road, Gary says.

But Sheriff Lee Foster disagrees. He drove the road last week and said he “doesn’t see much of a problem.”

As far as who is responsible for repairing the road, it is not in the county system. The dirt road is owned by Atlantic Coast Properties.

And it is questionable whether Fox Briar Road will ever be part of the public roads system.

Current county policy states a road must be paved and have a right-of-way of 50 feet in width for through roads before it can be accepted into the county road system.

Also, the title to the road must be turned over to the county.

But the process seeking to turn this road over to the county predates that policy. New regulations for county road acceptance were put in place in 2009.

In a March 2003 letter, then Department of Public Works Director Jim Liptak wrote Atlantic Coast Properties saying “road conditions were very poor due to the lack of maintenance that has been performed.”

He then gave the road owner a list of seven items that needed to be done to bring the road up to standards for inclusion in the county system.

Liptak also wrote that the road would have to meet the requirement of half the lots being sold by March 10, 2003, which had been met.

Also, Atlantic Coast Properties would be required to maintain the roads for one year. Atlantic Coast could then apply for the road to be taken into the county system, pending an inspection and the acceptance of the county road committee.

A title was written up to convey the road to the county in February 2003, but never recorded.

Atlantic Coast wrote to the county stating that the company was getting the road up to code, but questioned the year wait.

In June 2004, Atlantic Coast again wrote, saying the work had been completed and asking for the road to be placed in the county system.

A July 2004 letter from the county states a dispute over 50 percent of the properties being owned by individuals, and denies the request.

County officials could not locate any correspondence about the road since 2004. According to County Administrator Wayne Adams and Public Works Director Kyle Nash, this means the road must meet the 2009 standards of being paved before it is considered for inclusion in the county system.

In the meantime, the road remains the responsibility of Atlantic Coast Properties and has once again fallen in disrepair.

Gary says he is trying to get the word out so hopefully something can be done to solve the problem.