MOUNT VERNON — Either a road is there, or it isn’t. Pretty much a cut-and-dried determination, one might think. But, then, one wouldn’t be involved in government. If one stands at the rural intersection of Gilchrist and Obrien roads in Monroe Township, looking east, Obrien Road is a normal, paved roadway shooting off to the left at nearly a right angle.
But what is the muddy path to the right? A driveway? Yet no houses stand upon the hills. A farm lane? Yet it’s not marked private. It hardly looks like an official road, overgrown with trees and deeply rutted as it is.
Welcome to the southern end of Obrien Road. The Knox County Commissioners viewed the site and met Monday morning with farmers who work the land on either side of the road, in response to a petition by Knox County Engineer Jim Henry to vacate the abandoned section of road. That section is no longer kept up by the township, nor shown on county maps.
Looking at the 1900 county map, the southern extension of Obrien Road runs due south for about a quarter of a mile, then turns sharply east for a few hundred feet, then runs southeast for a little over another quarter of a mile, ending at what once was the eastern end of Carding Mill Road, another road which no longer continues all the way through. Carding now runs for less than half a mile, coming off Gilchrist just west of Obrien, on the west bank of Schenck Creek, and dead-ending at a private residence. Carding Mill Road originally curved to the east, passed the intersection with Obrien Road, and joined up on the sharp corner of what is now part of Vincent Road. By 1930, the sharp jag in Obrien had been smoothed out by use to a smooth curve, while Carding Mill disappeared entirely from the map. The same configuration is shown on the 1960 map.
By the 1980 county map, the short northern section of Carding Mill Road is shown as being back in use, while the southern extension of Obrien Road disappeared entirely from the map, detectable only from an old property line running along the southernmost section of the road.
Twenty-eight years later, the situation remains much the same. Carding Mill Road is a mud-and-gravel lane that receives upkeep from Monroe Township, including snowplowing, occasional graveling and a new bridge a few years ago. There is also evidence the township has sought to clear a wider right of way for its equipment. The southern extension of Obrien Road is an unimproved, overgrown, muddy lane running between the fields of farmers Konrad Schiefer and Jim and Jeff Fowler.
What has happened in this scenario is that this part of Obrien Road has been abandoned, due to its infrequent use and lack of houses, but has never been officially vacated by the county as a public road. According to Chris Williams of the Knox County Engineer’s Office, this legal limbo is described by the state as “Class X,” and is a common problem with old roads in rural areas.
Jim Fowler said he could remember traveling down this part of Obrien Road in his youth, but that it was no longer even passable now, due to fallen trees. Schiefer said he had no objection to having the road closed. He said hunters use it occasionally, as do the farmers themselves, but there was no apparent need for it to be kept open and maintained.
“Let’s say in 15 years I want to build a house back there on the hill,” Jeff Fowler said. “Who takes care of the road?”
“The township would be obligated to plow and maintain it,” Commissioner Allen Stockberger said, but added it would be up to the property owners to restore the road to usable standards before it could be maintained. This was contingent upon the commissioners not vacating the land.
If the old road were officially vacated, it would become the landowners’ private drive, and their exclusive responsibility. The Fowlers and Schiefer agreed that if it were made private, they’d have expenses in determining property line, usage, access and gating. Therefore, they expressed a preference for maintaining the current status quo of being officially open but unofficially closed.
Later in the day Monday, the commissioners met with Monroe Township Trustee Brennan Durbin, who was concerned that if the road were not vacated, a future landowner many years from now might try to develop the land and stick the township with the cost of bringing the road up to par.
“What if the landowner builds an 8-foot road, without proper ditches, and we can’t turn around or we damage our equipment in there?” Durbin asked.
Commissioner Bob Wise pointed out that the commissioners, the county engineer and the township trustees would all have a vote about whether any such restoration was satisfactory. Durbin said he was still uneasy with the lack of clarification about road specifications.
“Are there specs for improvements?” Durbin asked.
Cindy Williams, representing County Engineer Jim Henry, who was unable to attend the meeting because of a family emergency, said she didn’t know if any such specifications existed. She said the whole petition for vacancy simply came about because the engineer’s office was trying to make tax maps and right of way maps match. At some point in the past, the southern part of Obrien Road had been dropped off the tax map, although the right of way remains.
“We’re just trying to repair damage done over the last 100 years,” Williams said.
She said if the road was not vacated by the commissioners, the engineer’s office would redraw it on the maps.
Durbin said he was still uneasy about the vagueness of the language. He said he felt that if the road were declared open, there would be no excuse for leaving trees in the right of way and not making the road passable. He said he would support not vacating the road if Henry could produce some specs assuring that the road would be restored properly, and not by the township, if it were ever placed back into general use. Durbin then had to leave the hearing on other business.
The commissioners then discussed whether the vote should be postponed in order to allow time to research the specs issue. Outgoing commissioner Tom McLarnan wanted to go ahead and vote. Stockberger wondered if they should check with Henry first. They asked Assistant Prosecutor Chip McConville about the time frame. McConville said they had 60 days from receipt of the petition to vote. Commissioners’ clerk Rochelle Shackle said she received the petition Nov. 21, meaning that a vote would have to be completed by Jan. 21, or else the vacation of the road would automatically happen.
McLarnan said that since the issue came up on his term, he wanted to close it before leaving office. McLarnan moved to deny the petition, Wise seconded the motion, and all three commissioners voted in favor of not vacating the road property, but asked Williams to go ahead and check for township road specifications to reassure Durbin.
