MOUNT VERNON — Centerburg property owner Rodney Newell asked the Knox County commissioners on Thursday to grant two easements across the Heart of Ohio Trail.
Newell accesses 195 acres of farmland and a barn via a driveway off of State Route 3. The strip is 60 feet wide up to the bike path and parallels Chase Cochran’s property.
The narrower driveway across the bike trail predates the railroad’s arrival. Newell and park district officials thought an easement was officially on record. However, they discovered it was not.
Newell is asking to extend the 60-foot-wide strip across the bike path to protect his entrance and future potential use.
“The way things are going and looking in Knox County now, that could end up being a golf course, or somebody wants to develop that or something someday, and I need it to be 60 feet, which is legal for a road,” he told the commissioners. “That’s my main access.”
Newell also asked for a 60-foot easement at the southern end of his property, exiting on Updike Road.
“What machinery is today and what the future might hold, I think that’s reasonable,” he said of the width.
“In a year’s time, I might use it 50 times, and most of the time it’s going to be in my pickup truck. When I get on there now, if I have 60 feet, I’m only going to use 15 of it.”
Future land use considerations
Newell will not cross the bike path on the Updike Road easement; however, his current access crosses county-owned land sits in the bike path’s right-of-way.
Commissioner Drenda Keesee questioned whether the county engineer needed to weigh in on the issue. Her concern was whether the easement and access could create future problems if the 195 acres were rezoned for residential or commercial use.
“If a future buyer purchased it, would they be able to turn that into a road coming into the bike trail and the other road right there?” she asked.
Commissioner Barry Lester said, “That would be up to the property owner, because an easement is an easement. I don’t see an issue with it.”
Park District Director David Heithaus said he will defer to the commissioners on the Updike Road easement.
“I do feel strongly that the one that is not recorded that has been used up closer to the barns, that absolutely was an oversight, and that should be an easement,” he told the commissioners.
“It’s odd because there are a number of recorded easements on file for other incidences like this up and down the Heart of Ohio Trail. It was just an oversight on somebody’s part for that main one.”
Additional easement is between property owners
Chase Cochran plans to buy two acres from Newell, including the existing barn. He plans to demolish the barn and build a larger one for hay and straw.
Cochran will work with Newell on an easement to access his two acres via Newell’s property. The commissioners do not have to sign off on that easement.
Heithaus said the easements will likely need to be surveyed.
The commissioners will talk with the county prosecutor to verify the proper course of action.
