Commission declines to abandon Trails West Road after resident petition; resolution fails

The Gallatin County Commission on April 22 declined to approve a petition to abandon Trails West Road, a gravel access within the Lost Trail minor subdivision northwest of Belgrade.

Eric Semrad, Gallatin County clerk and recorder, presented the petition (No. 862) submitted in October by landowners who said they wanted the road privatized because of ongoing nuisance activity. Semrad said the viewing committee (including Commissioner McFarland and county staff) inspected the road and found it provides physical access to five lots in the subdivision and is associated with an open-space tract; legal access would be lost if the county abandoned the dedicated right-of-way without an amended plat and any required variances.

Semrad told the commission that the proposed abandonment would conflict with the county subdivision regulations, which require minimum frontage on a public road and require interior subdivision roads to be dedicated to the public. He recommended denial of the petition and noted that an amended plat and variance process would be necessary before any abandonment that creates nonconformity with subdivision standards could be approved.

Homeowner Jennifer McAllen, the petitioner, told the commission that she and her husband have maintained the road for 17 years, that only they live on the road, and that they want it private to limit misuse — she described recurring burnouts, fireworks in a pond and summertime maintenance burdens.

Commissioners discussed the legal implications of abandoning a dedicated right-of-way while lots in the subdivision remain separately owned. They noted the county does not routinely maintain subdivision roads and suggested options available to landowners, such as forming a road improvement district (RID) or private maintenance agreements, but stressed that abandoning legal access while lots remain separately transferrable could create future access disputes.

A motion to adopt resolution number 2025-034 (the resolution as written in the affirmative to abandon the road) was moved, seconded and then failed on a vote of the commission. The clerk had noted that the resolution text was written in the affirmative; Semrad and other staff advised the board that the procedural and substantive requirements of the subdivision regulations weigh against abandonment at this time.

The commission’s refusal to approve the abandonment means Trails West Road remains a publicly dedicated road; any future request to remove public dedication would require recordation of an amended plat and satisfaction of subdivision regulation requirements, or the unanimous ownership and reaggregation of lots so that public access is no longer required.