Vacating road causes concerns

A public hearing to vacate a county road in the industrial park caused several to voice their opinions during a recent commissioners’ meeting.
During a regular commissioners’ meeting on Nov. 21, a petition to vacate CR 60 W., between SR 14 and CR 25 S., was presented to the commissioners for their approval.
The request to vacate the road came from BraunAbility. As part of the vacating of the roadway, the county recycling and transfer station trucks, along with trucks traveling to the other businesses in the industrial park, would have access to the vacated portion through an agreement with BraunAbility.
BraunAbility Attorney Brad Johnston and Andrew Roberts approached the commissioners as to why BraunAbility wants the road vacated. Johnston said the company is concerned with the public traffic that uses the roadway. He assured those in the meeting that the businesses currently located in the industrial park would continue to use the roadway.
Johnston said closing the road would also allow for the company to secure the campus perimeter that they plan to do with fencing. The property will be completely fenced to keep nonemployees from entering the property, according to Johnston. There would be a manned gate that could allow for semis and industrial traffic to enter the roadway.
Johnston said he has spoken with the different businesses to ensure there will be little impact on the businesses with the road closing.
If the road was closed there would be some additional traffic in front of one of the businesses because of BraunAbility employees traveling to and from work.
As public comment was made, it became clear that there is some opposition to closing the road from locals who use it on a regular basis. One commenter said it is hard to believe there is so much traffic on the road that it is causing a hazard. It was suggested that the current commissioners table the petition because two new commissioners will  take oath of office at the beginning of the year.  
Other locals said they are in favor of the road closing.
Fred Schaefer, attorney representing S&S Precast, and Meghan Allen, of S&S Precast, said if the road closes, it will directly affect their business.
Schaefer said it’s hard to determine how a business will be affected with only doing a traffic study for two days. The business has about four to five outbound loads per day, all of which use CR 60 W. The truck traffic to and from the business is also not limited to normal business hours.  
Schaefer suggested that they table the issue, so some concerns can be addressed by all parties.
It appears that not all the final details have been established by BraunAbility in regards to a manned gate such as whether it will be manned 24 hours or just during regular business hours.
 A motion was made by commissioner Bud Krohn Jr. to table the issue until after the first of the year. The motion died for a lack of a second.
A question was made as to how commissioner Terry Young can vote for the vacating of the roadway when he works for BraunAbility. Young said he brought up the vacating of the road about a year ago because it is a dangerous situation. Young said he has filed the proper paperwork regarding any conflicts of interest.  
A motion was made by commissioner Brady to vacate the roadway. It was seconded by Young and passed. Krohn Jr. opposed the vote.
Because the road is vacated, the county will no longer maintain or plow that area.