Commission recommends vacating dead-end portion of Coleman Avenue north of Birch Street

The Bowling Green Planning Commission unanimously recommended that city council vacate the 145.2-foot unimproved dead-end portion of Coleman Avenue north of Birch Street after planning staff reported that the petition met statutory requirements and city departments identified no operational objections.

Heather, Planning Department staff, said the petition (received Dec. 18, 2025) was submitted by Steven and Michelle O'Neil and included the required adjacent-owner signatures under the Ohio Revised Code. "All departments indicated the street vacation would have no impact to their operations," Heather said, but she added that utilities requested a permanent utility easement be retained, noting that is required by the Ohio Revised Code when a street or alley vacation occurs.

Heather described the area as an unimproved right-of-way that has been maintained by neighbors for years and said the city has no plans to pave the right-of-way in the foreseeable future; she also cited a significant elevation difference between the end of Coleman Avenue and the adjoining parcel. Heather said the usual practice after ordinance adoption is for the vacated strip to be split between adjacent owners (west and east halves) and recorded at the county recorder's office.

After brief discussion that the vacation was largely a "cleanup" of long-unused right-of-way and that utilities would retain easements, the chair moved to recommend council approval; the motion passed on a roll call vote of 7'0to'00. The commission forwarded the recommendation to city council, which must hold a public hearing before an ordinance can be adopted.

If council and the recorder proceed, the vacated strip would typically revert to adjacent owners subject to permanent utility easements recorded per Ohio law.