Roseville council approves three right‑of‑way vacations, tables one after pathway concerns

The Roseville City Council on April 21 approved resolutions to vacate three city right‑of‑way segments and associated easements — identified in staff materials as areas K, U and a fourth corridor north of Skillman — and tabled a fourth proposed vacation (area V) after neighbors and council members raised concerns about an informal wooded pathway and unclear utility‑easement language.

The vacations affect four previously dedicated or acquired corridors the city said it never constructed as roads and no longer needs for public street purposes, Public Works Director Fryhammer told the council. The city will retain utility easements in the corridors under the staff recommendation presented at the meeting.

The issue mattered to neighbors because one of the corridors (area V) has long been used as a shaded, informal pedestrian route between Mid Oaks and Ridgewood neighborhoods. Multiple residents told the council the route is a neighborhood amenity; adjacent property owners said the corridor has functioned as their yard for decades and asked the city to return the land to them.

Fryhammer said the four vacations began in a multi‑phase process that started in 2020–2022 and are labeled in staff materials as K, U, V and W. He described each briefly: area K is a narrow strip south of County Road C between two commercial parcels; area U is excess right‑of‑way along Aldine Place in the Ridgewood plat where a sidewalk already provides pedestrian access; area V is a 50‑foot corridor along Aldine near the Mid Oaks plat that includes a long, wooded informal path; and area W is a portion of Wheeler Street in the Woodside plat with excess width compared with…