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DOT Board overturns county ruling
By Derek Hodges
N.C. Department of Transportation officials overturned a decision by Jackson County’s Commissioners with their recent vote not to abandon a portion of S.R. 1173A in Glenville community.
Phil Fowler, who owns property on both sides of the road, asked that the road be abandoned. County commissioners approved Fowler’s request during their Dec. 19 session, but the state’s Transportation Board reached the opposite conclusion.
The request seemed routine when it came before local officials, Jackson County Manager Ken Westmoreland said.
“It’s not an everyday occurrence, but several other abandonment issues that have been presented to the board have been routinely approved,” Westmoreland said. “The only thing that was different about this one was that it was on a loop rood. However, no one would lose access to their property because both ends would remain open.”
When land owners on the road heard about the potential abandonment, it was a name issue, not just access, that concerned them.
Fowler, who contends his family owns the road and only opened it to make it available for school buses from the old Glenville School, called it “Joe Fowler Road” in his petition for abandonment. He asked that .8 mile of the road be taken off state maintenance to allow him to close that portion. Doing so would limit the number of cars passing through his property, he said in December.
Neighbors complained that “Joe Fowler Road” has not been used to refer to the road in several years. The street is now called Lakeside Circle Drive, they argued. That discrepancy kept them away from a public hearing they didn’t realize impacted their property, they said.
Fowler contends Joe Fowler Road is the street’s historical name, a fact that is supported by many of the property owners’ deeds, Westmoreland said.
When Lakeside Circle homeowners realized what had happened, they took their complaints to DOT officials, whose decision is the next step in the process toward abandoning a road.
According to Commissioner Conrad Burrell, who is also a member of the State Transportation Board, DOT leaders sent letters to 72 people who live on or access their property through Lakeside Circle requesting comment on the proposed abandonment. Of those letters, 47 were returned, one in favor, one indifferent and 45 opposing removing the road from state maintenance.
“There was a lot of opposition to it,” Burrell said. “The DOT in Raleigh received a lot of opposition to the idea.”
Both Burrell and Westmoreland pointed out that confusion over the name issue should not have played a part, as county and DOT officials use state road numbers (i.e. S.R. 1173A) when discussing those issues. Burrell conceded many people probably are not aware of these numbers, however.
Citizen opposition, combined with concerns about making two dead-ends out of a loop road, helped stop Fowler’s abandonment request when it came before the Transportation Board early this month, Burrell said.
Fowler said he is disappointed by the DOT decision.
“It’s a bitter pill,” Fowler said.
Fowler, who maintains he still owns the road, said his family should have restricted access to it after Glenville School closed in 1975. He believes negative public comments helped stop the proposed abandonment, he said.
Burrell, who abstained from discussion and voting both at commissioners and the Transportation Board meetings, said the DOT action to overturn a local ruling is unusual.
“I feel like it was a decision that was probably tough for them to make,” Burrell said. “It’s the first time that I can remember the board overturning a county’s vote.”
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