By Michael Howell
After two hours of discussion last Thursday, the Ravalli County Commissioners agreed to abandon Meyer Lane, a short connector road between North Burnt Fork Road and Middle Burnt Fork Road east of Stevensville. The abandonment was conditioned, however, on the landowners along the road coming to some agreement amongst themselves about the easements that would be necessary for each to protect their own access along what would become a private road.
Although a primary landowner along the road, Jay Meyer, submitted the petition for abandonment, Commissioner Greg Chilcott said that it was the county’s idea. What initiated the issue on Meyer Lane, he said, was an engineer’s report that the bridge across North Burnt Fork Creek was in need of significant repair or replacement and was not safe for public travel. He said he brought it up to the Meyers. Chilcott said he viewed the bridge with Road Department Supervisor Dusty McKern and Planning Department Manager Terry Nelson. In their estimation, he said, “the county needs to either fix it or get rid of it.”
A traffic count was taken on the road and the number of vehicle trips averaged 70 per day. The cost of the bridge work was estimated at $25,000 to $30,000, not including labor. According to Chilcott, given the limited use and additional options available for the public, the viewers recommended closure.
A couple of the other landowners along the road had some questions about how it would affect them. Argus Barker was concerned that if the road was made private it could be problem for him because the pavement is actually all on his neighbor’s property. He was also worried about access for other entities like the post office and the trash collectors, UPS and emergency vehicles.
Glenda Edgeworth said that she was not so much concerned about how it would affect her personally, as how it would affect the general public that does use it.
Commissioner Jeff Burrows said that he didn’t see any inconvenience for anybody except the adjacent landowners and said he would like to get a buy-in from the landowners first.
Chilcott said the issue was urgent because the bridge was going to be closed next week and probably be closed all winter because it is a hazard. He said the closure of the road was “only going to affect the people sitting in this room.”
In the end it was decided to approve the abandonment of the road on the condition that the landowners come to an agreement on the easements and that a waiver of liability concerning the bridge is provided to the county.