Jenkinsville mayor tells council a county road is blocked after property owner ignored stop‑work order

Mayor Gregory Gaignard of Jenkinsville told Fairfield County Council on April 28 that a nonresident landowner has blocked Lakeview Drive, a road he says has served local families for generations, and that the owner ignored a county stop‑work order after demolishing a house.

Gaignard said the road provides access to properties that have been in families for decades and that two or three households currently cannot access their property because of the work. He said Jenkinsville’s ordinance dating to 2008 requires one acre for a replacement dwelling if a structure is torn down, and that the owner removed a house instead of renovating it.

“I need to understand, are we set in a presence where I can come in town, buy a piece of property, and block a road that's a hundred years old?” Gaignard asked the council.

Council members confirmed staff had issued a stop‑work order and said county staff have met with the property owner multiple times. Mr. Carpenter told the council a magistrate hearing had been scheduled, but the property owner requested a jury trial; Carpenter said that request pauses the magistrate process and that scheduling a jury trial is controlled by the courts and not the county.

County staff and council members said they remain willing to continue discussions with the property owner and residents to seek a resolution that avoids trial, and they emphasized that county emergency assets would respond in an emergency.

County staff offered to investigate further and said they would follow the legal process to enforce county codes. No formal action or new enforcement order was announced at the meeting; the council urged further coordination between the town, county staff and affected property owners.