Planning commission recommends supervisors approve abandonment of Bailey Hill Road

Planning commissioners on an otherwise routine agenda voted unanimously to recommend that the Siskiyou County Board of Supervisors approve a proposed abandonment of Bailey Hill Road (RA-2502) and determine the project exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act under Guidelines §15061(b)(3).

The action matters because if the supervisors follow the recommendation the county will be clearing the way to transfer fee title or easements for 1.28 miles of paved frontage road adjacent to Interstate 5 near Exit 793; the transfer could change who has maintenance responsibility and who can restrict access to the roadway.

Senior Planner James Phelps summarized the proposal to the commission. "This project, as you stated, is a proposed road abandonment located at Exit 793. It's the Bailey Hill Road, Lemus Road exit on I-5 heading north towards Oregon," he said. Phelps told the commission the road set on roughly 17.25 acres of AG-1 land is 1.28 miles long and that Caltrans traffic counts for that stretch of I-5 show about 8,400 vehicles daily. Staff identified three required findings the commission must recommend for the supervisors to approve: consistency with the general plan, that the road is not useful as a non-motorized transportation…