Commission directs staff to prepare resolutions after review of three county road petitions

Fremont County commissioners on Sept. 23 heard viewer reports and instructed staff to prepare formal documents after reviewing three separate petitions involving county roads.

Steve, the viewer appointed by the Fremont County Planning Department, recommended vacating the final portion of Deer Creek Road (a roughly 2-mile portion he said lies entirely on petitioner Bill Keith’s property) because the road dead-ends on private land, is not used to access other public land and, he said, the county could construct a turnaround within existing disturbance on the right-of-way. Following the report commissioners asked staff to prepare a resolution of vacation and a quitclaim deed to transfer the county’s title interest in that section back to the petitioner."Please prepare that," the chair said after Steve finished his summary, and commissioners agreed to move forward with a resolution for the vacation.

Steve also presented his viewer analysis for a petition by the Painted Hills Estates Landowners Association to establish several subdivision roads as county highways. He said he evaluated public safety, number of people affected, percent of the subdivision in favor, alternate routes and budgetary impact. Steve told the commission that the transportation department estimated ongoing maintenance would cost the county about $7,000 a year for mag chloride and other maintenance on the unpaved roads. Al Garrett, president of the Painted Hills Estates Landowners Association, told the commission the homeowners have spent about $40,000 upgrading the roads and said the subdivision is 79% built out; Garrett and county transportation staff told commissioners the roads provide an important alternate route when incidents affect the nearby state highway. Commissioners directed staff to draft a resolution to adopt those roads as county highways and to bring it back for a future vote.

By contrast, Steve recommended the county take no action on a petition to adopt Fox Springs Road as a county road. He said the request would primarily benefit 11 homeowners in the subdivision and would not provide additional public access or alternate routing, because the road ends in a cul-de-sac and there is no demonstrated public benefit. Commissioners agreed with that recommendation and took no action on Fox Springs Road.

Why it matters: Road adoptions and vacations change who pays for ongoing maintenance and who has responsibility for emergency access. The Painted Hills recommendation carries a direct budget implication — roughly $7,000 per year in additional maintenance costs — and the Deer Creek vacation, if adopted, will remove a county maintenance obligation on that parcel while converting the county’s interest back to private ownership.

Details and next steps: Commissioners directed staff to draft a formal vacation resolution and quitclaim deed for the Deer Creek segment and a draft resolution for adoption in Painted Hills; staff will present those documents to the board at a subsequent meeting. Steve said the county’s right-of-way through one of the sections is 60 feet wide and that a turnaround could be placed on already-disturbed ground that lies within Bureau of Land Management (BLM) land adjacent to the right-of-way. Fox Springs petition will not be advanced.

Public comment: Al Garrett, president of the Painted Hills Estates Landowners Association, spoke in favor of county adoption for Painted Hills and detailed the homeowners’ investments and the subdivision’s increasing build-out.

Ending: Staff will return draft resolutions for formal consideration; no final vote on the Deer Creek vacation or Painted Hills adoption was recorded in the transcript during this meeting.