OSCODA - When the Iosco County Road Commission began to tear up a section of Loud Dam Road in the spring of 2006, the residents were happy; they thought they were getting a new road.

They were wrong. Instead of a new road to replace the extremely deteriorated surface, residents learned their road was being converted to gravel .

So the residents banded together - led by Ted McCormick - to stop the conversion. Now they are piecing together requirements to take the case to Oscoda Township officials. They want the township to fix the road or create a special assessment district to get it paved.

The group has formed the Hurst AuSable River Camp Association, with McCormick as acting president.

McCormick said road commission officials are helping in this process, but it was the initial actions of the organization that bugged residents.

“Our problem is they never told anyone they were doing it,” he said.

McCormick said he only found out the road was being converted from a road worker who was patching holes on the surface in November. He was told the conversion would be finished in the spring of 2008.

Indeed, the road commission plans to take the surface back to gravel and has already done so to a more than one-mile stretch from Loud Dam north.

Fred Timlick, who manages the commission, said the current seal coat road surface - which is layers of crushed gravel mixed with tar - is a suitable surface for fixing existing roads, but not such a good surface for a road itself.

He said the maintenance - filling potholes with asphalt - wasn’t doing the job anymore.

“The last mile of it was in such bad repair,” he said, “that we put gravel in there. Actually it is pretty good; we thought that it looked pretty good.”

Timlick said the reason it was converted back to gravel was due to cost.

“The issue is this: Much of the reason that we took it back was that we agreed with the residency that it was worn out,” he said. “Some of the remarks were that we were wasting maintenance money; well, I kind of agree with them.”

With a gravel road, if it gets bumpy, it can just be bladed, Timlick explained. He said the only purpose the existing seal coat would serve would be to keep dust down. The dirt road can have dust control agents put on it.

Tim Parks, who also lives on the road, doesn’t agree that dirt would be better. He wishes the commission would either pave the road or leave it like it is. According to Parks, he bought the house where he now lives specifically because there was a paved road.

Another resident, Bob Brady, believes the county should pave it because it wasn’t maintained properly in the 20 years since he has lived there.

He said he has been complaining about the condition for a decade, but because his complaints were falling on deaf ears, he stopped calling the commission five years ago.

“It used to be one solid ribbon of road,” he said.

Parks said Consumers Energy, which operates the dam at the end of the road, should foot some of the bill as well, because large trucks driven down to the dam beat up the road.

In November, the association sent a letter to the road commission expressing concern about the road.

At a meeting of the road commission held on Christmas Eve, the group brought the commissioners a list of 14 concerned citizens, asking that the road be fixed.

According to McCormick, Timlick was gracious and expressed his desire to work with the group and get a special assessment district going.

Now McCormick is collecting signatures from 64 property owners along the road to show the commission that a majority of the owners favor an assessment.

This petition will go back to the commission, which will then draft a cost estimate to pave the road.

All three men - McCormick, Parks and Brady - said they would be willing to pay for a share of the road if a special assessment was created, but would prefer for the township to pay, if at all possible.

“We want to see a road that’s paved,” Parks said, “and, in the worst scenario, we don’t want them to take the rest of the stuff out.”

The group has yet to approach the township about a possible assessment, according to Superintendent Robert Stalker.

He said that, according to township policy, if citizens can come up with their share of an assessment district, which is 35 percent of the total project cost, the township usually will agree to the paving.

In such an assessment district, the township would also pay 35 percent and the road commission would pay 30 percent.

The citizens’ cost would be added to yearly property taxes for a specific number of years.

“It would also undergo review from the township road and sidewalk committee, which would recommend it to the board,” he said. “I assume the costs would be high, so we would put it toward the committee.”

Stalker said the township usually only foots the full cost of paving roads in limited circumstances.

“If there are not projects that are available through special assessments, then we would look at taking on township projects that need work,” he said.