Coffee County commissioners approve abandonment of Cherokee Road, contingent on easements

The Coffee County Board of Commissioners voted March 1 to abandon roughly 0.9 miles of Cherokee Road after a public hearing and conditioned the action on completion of ingress-and-egress easements for neighboring property owners.

Attorney Tony Rowell opened the public hearing on the petition by Kerry Van Moore and said the application had been advertised and adjacent landowners notified. Neighbors Bruce Deen and Donna Deen spoke in favor of the road closing and told the board they would accept an easement for access to their property; Rowell said Moore had agreed to provide that easement.

Commissioner Jimmy Kitchens moved to approve a Resolution of Road Abandonment contingent on the Deens’ receiving the ingress-and-egress easement; Commissioner Johnny Wayne Jowers seconded the motion and the board voted unanimously to approve it. The board then approved the related quitclaim deeds and gave Chairman Oscar Paulk authority to sign documents related to the road closure after the landowners complete the required steps.

Rowell asked the Deens to obtain the written easements and bring them to his office; the board’s approval is conditioned on documented completion of that access arrangement. The county attorney said the chairman would execute quitclaim deeds only after the easements and any other required paperwork were finalized.

The action transfers whatever county interest exists in the described road segment to the petitioning landowners under the conditions approved by the board. No formal legal citation was specified during discussion. The board made the decisions without recorded opposition and unanimously approved the motions.