MOUNT VERNON — After doing their due diligence and listening to national and local groups, the Knox County commissioners unanimously denied the request to vacate Bat Nest Road.
“We’ve had hearings. We’ve had a lot of feedback on Bat Nest Road. There have been discussions with the township trustees,” Commissioner Bill Pursel said on Thursday.
“We have had two different groups, national groups, that have done their PR work. We’ve had some local people do some PR work. We have done our due diligence with the county engineer and the map department.”
The Knox County Convention & Visitors Bureau opposed the vacation, as did local residents. Recreational groups, including the American Motorcycle Association and Gravel Grinders, also opposed vacating the road.
“I want to answer the incredible efforts of our community and those across the nation by voting down the vacation,” Commissioner Drenda Keesee said.
Union Township trustees requested that the commissioners vacate a short stretch of road that runs through James Miller’s property. The trustees do not maintain the road.
Miller cited the inability to drive his pickup truck to his property due to road conditions. He also cited trash and trespassing issues as reasons for requesting the vacation.
Ted Atkinson of Fairfield County asked the commissioners whether Miller must meet a timeframe to request vacating the road segment again.
Pursel said there is no time frame. If the landowner submitted a second request to the township, the township trustees would have to hold hearings and repeat the process.
‘Kind of a legal nightmare’
Atkinson questioned whether anything could be done to verify the road’s right-of-way, given it might have shifted over time due to downed trees or road movement.
“Is it something to be concerned about for people traveling that road and they go around a tree that’s been cut down or blown down or whatever, and now they’re technically trespassing?” he asked.
Pursel noted the township does not maintain the road.
“They don’t take their vehicles down there, so they’re not watching that. And we do know that the roads, especially gravel roads, shift over a period of time. So there would be legal processes to go through if they wanted to have it surveyed,” the commissioner said.
“I don’t think that they really want to spend on survey to on a road that they’re not maintaining to find out if it moved or not.”
Pursel said “it’s kind of a legal nightmare.”
“If people think it’s a road that’s for recreational use, that’s not the purpose of roads. The purpose of maintaining roads is for vehicles to get from point A to point B, not for playing around and getting to point A to point B,” he said.
He said another issue is that the road originates in Coshocton County. That section is not maintained. However, Pursel said he did not think the Tiverton Township (Coshocton County) trustees had formally declared it as unmaintained.
“So there would have to be a discussion between Tiverton Township, Union Township, and Butler Township to have any kind of consistency with anything. I don’t see that happening in the near future,” he said.