Crawford County commissioners approve vacating small alley and portion of street in Chicopee/Crestview

Crawford County Commissioners voted Tuesday to vacate a short alley in the original town of Chicopee and to vacate a portion of a street in the Crestview subdivision, after a public hearing that drew comments from nearby property owners.

The action, taken after public comment and discussion, will leave the western four lots of the affected street open for access. Commissioners said they will adopt an official resolution and circulate it once the vacation is recorded.

At the start of the hearing on the alley, the commission opened public comment and heard from Tom Spurgeon, a resident who described the condition of the alley behind his property and nearby structures. “When we first took this over as a challenge…this is what we wanna try to focus on is to get it all cleaned up,” Spurgeon said, describing overgrowth, a pond behind his home and what he called an area blocking water flow that he would like to improve if the land is vacated.

Spurgeon showed maps and aerial photographs to illustrate the narrow 50-foot right-of-way and to point out structures and the pond abutting the alley. Commissioners clarified which lots join the alley and confirmed they would handle the small alley vacate first before handling the longer road segment discussed later in the meeting.

During the separate hearing on the Crestview plat (the road), staff told the commission they had received a written opposition limited to the first four lots on the west side (lot numbers given in the written comment as 38, 307, 306 and 35). Commissioners and neighbors discussed where the vacate would begin and confirmed that property providing access to at least one house (referred to during discussion as the property of John Evans) would remain open for access.

Commissioners closed both hearings and then moved to approve resolutions: a resolution recorded as 2025-011 covered the alley vacate; a subsequent motion approved vacating the street as presented while explicitly leaving the western four lots open for access. The commission said the formal resolution will be adopted Tuesday and the recorded documents distributed once the vacation is recorded.

The commission did not provide a roll-call vote in the transcript; the motions were seconded and commissioners verbally recorded “Aye.” The staff member coordinating the plats and maps confirmed the exact lot numbers and map pages used during the hearing would be included in the recorded resolution.

The measures affect parcels described as Lots 15, 17 and 19 on the north side and Lots 16, 18 and 20 on the south side for the alley, and a separate, longer portion of street in the Crestview subdivision that runs east from the block behind Brian Breeze’s and John Evans’s properties. The county said the western four lots will be retained as public access until the resolution is recorded.

Commissioners said they will circulate the final recorded resolution to property owners after recording.

Notes: the hearing and vote occurred in two segments — first the alley vacate, then the street/plat vacate; a written letter of opposition covered the west four lots for the street vacate and was discussed on the record.