Commission reads petitions to vacate DeWitt Cave Road and sections of Riverside Road

Presiding Commissioner Lynn Morrison read petitions asking Christian County to vacate a quarter-mile section of DeWitt Cave Road and several abandoned sections of Riverside Road.

The petition for DeWitt Cave Road, filed by Truett Gimlin and Darren Arthur, asks the county to vacate the stretch from Taber Hollow to a dead end so the road may become private. Morrison said DeWitt Cave currently serves two property owners and that the petition includes the signatures required and county clerk certification.

Michael Blum, speaking for Riverside Township residents, asked the county to vacate abandoned easements on Riverside Road and return land to adjacent holders. The Riverside filing requests that the west-side easement be returned to the city of Ozark where the city owns both sides of the old easement, and that parcels on the east side be vacated to individual landowners, including Michael and Stephanie Bloom. The petition also requests a recorded right-of-way easement for the section of Riverside Road that remained in use after a bridge project oversight; the county clerk Paula Broomfield is recorded as having signed the filing on Dec. 11, 2025.

"Truett Gimlin and Darren Arthur are petitioning Christian County to vacate DeWitt Cave Road," Morrison read into the record during the meeting.

County staff noted that reading the petitions is the statutorily required step to place the matter on the record. A county representative told the commission the next procedural step is issuance of a notice of filing and continuation of the matters to the next term, which the commission set to occur in April.

No final vacate decisions were made at the meeting; commissioners recorded the petitions and set the matters for the required follow-up steps.