Hayden road remains rugged amid court battle over private estate

HAYDEN, Ala. ( WIAT ) — A Blount County judge is deciding who – if anyone – is responsible for fixing a neighborhood road that has fallen in disrepair.

CBS 42 learned during an investigation last year that the Hardy Acres neighborhood in Hayden has privately owned roads. They were owned by Jack Clay before he died in 2020. He then left his estate to his wife, Maxine, but when she passed away, she left everything to the Hope House.

The Hope House is a county resource for residents to receive food and bill assistance while combating substance abuse. It also has a thrift store.

The road conditions of Double Oak Road got so bad last year that the school buses stopped going directly to students’ homes.

Jennifer Pike and her husband Gene Coulter met with CBS 42 after Tuesday’s court hearing to decide what happens now with the road.

“We moved in in 2004 and from 2004 to now, that’s all he had ever done was put some gravel but once it rains it just washes down because the hill is so steep,” Pike said.

They said when the owner of the neighborhood died, road maintenance did not continue.

“I heard comments in court about they’ve been busy fixing roads,” Coulter said. “I know we were fixing roads, but I never saw anyone in the courtroom fixing roads.”

Over the last few months, the neighbors have been taking things into their own hands. They raised money for milled asphalt and one neighbor was able to bring equipment home from his job to start getting to work.

“We were about to lose our mail service and we did save our mail service by patching the road,” Coulter said.

Compared to the first time we drove on Double Oak Road, it’s in far better condition after neighbors all pitched in together to raise $1,500 and fill in some of the holes on their own.

“As of right now the community is out a combined $1,500 out of pocket for us to just make the road passable and it is nowhere near fixed,” Coulter said.

Pike said it would take an estimated $210,000 to get the road fixed, but she said they can’t afford that. Slate McDorman is the attorney for the estate administrator, Clifta Burchfield. Tax records show that she’s been paying taxes on the road since Clay died .

“We’re working together in the right direction. The court’s doing everything within the law to be able to handle this estate correctly,” McDorman said. “I am glad there are people interested in trying to work this out and this has been a very hard estate for my client to manage. She’s worked hard to meet her duties. We believe the court and everybody we’re trying to get on the same page to do everything right.”

The residents said they tried to figure this out four years ago when they were tracking down her original attorney. Now, they just want the road to be fixed.

“It’s not like we’re asking for every little dime that’s in the estate,” Pike said. “We’re asking for a little bitty piece of it.”

Burchfield was ordered by the judge to post $400,000 in bond and send letters to formally notify the residents of Clay’s death. Meanwhile, the Hope House is supposed to be getting installments each year until the estate is paid out. The neighbors are still stuck in the middle of all of it.

The next court hearing is set for Sept. 3 at 2:00 p.m.

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