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Polk County approves order asking Independence to assume jurisdiction of portions of several roads
Summary
The Polk County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously Aug. 13 to approve Order 25-09, responding to the City of Independence’s requests to assume jurisdiction over portions of Tallmadge Road, Corvallis Road and an unimproved Sixth Street, and formally asking Independence to take jurisdiction of an annexed portion of Hoffman Road.
The Polk County Board of Commissioners on Aug. 13 approved Order 25-09, which completes a county step in transferring jurisdiction of several road segments to the City of Independence and formally requests that Independence accept jurisdiction of a portion of Hoffman Road that the city has annexed.
Darren Black, a Polk County staff member, told the board the city has requested county surrender of jurisdiction for portions of Tallmadge Road by resolution 25 16 24 and for a portion of Corvallis Road and an unimproved Sixth Street by resolution 25 16 32. He said the affected segments were annexed into the city by ordinance 16 19 (Oct. 24, 2024) and ordinance 16 23 (May 27, 2025). Black said maps and legal descriptions are included in the ordinances.
The action also asks the city to assume jurisdiction of a segment of Hoffman Road, which Black said the city annexed in full: “I believe they may have annexed all the way across. Yeah. They've actually annexed the full width, of that section of Hoffman Road. It's … 894 feet, from Gun Club, west,” he said. Black added that the Hoffman segment was not included in the city’s original resolution asking for jurisdiction, so the county will submit a request for the city to accept it.
Commissioners asked how the transfers would affect county operations. One commissioner questioned operational impacts of losing a maintained road segment, asking whether the county routinely cedes full-width sections to cities and whether it would be better to transfer only to the center line. Black replied that center-line transfers are not uncommon but that because annexation puts the road within city limits, a separate jurisdictional transfer is required and must be approved by both the county and the city. He added that the county could change the legal description to transfer only half the right of way if the board preferred.
Black also described Sixth Street as an unimproved island in a subdivision that the city wants under its maintenance. On Tallmadge and Corvallis roads, the transfers described mirror prior practice where only the half adjoining the city (to the center line) had been requested in other cases.
Commissioner (name not specified) moved to proceed with the presented resolutions; the motion was seconded by another commissioner (name not specified). The board voted to accept Order 25-09 as presented; the motion passed unanimously. The order and the city resolutions referenced complete the county’s side of the jurisdictional transfer process for the listed road segments, while the city must take corresponding action to accept the transfers.
The board also announced it would convene in executive session under ORS 192.660(2)(h) to consult with counsel regarding litigation or litigation likely to be filed, but no executive-session discussion or action was reported in the public record.
