Council approves abandonment of Rogers Road right‑of‑way with required utility easement

On June 9 the committee moved to abandon an unimproved right‑of‑way in the Quail Creek subdivision (Rogers Road), but only after adding a condition to preserve public‑utility and drainage easements.

City staff told the committee that Gallatin Public Utilities has both water and sewer lines within the unimproved right‑of‑way and that, under no circumstance, structures should be allowed to interfere with those facilities. Staff also noted the Quail Creek neighborhood currently exceeds 30 homes; under the fire code that triggered the need for a secondary ingress/egress connection. Engineering staff recommended against abandonment because the corridor provides potential connectivity between subdivisions and would help the neighborhood meet fire‑safety requirements if it were improved.

Applicant James Wright, who told the committee he and his family had maintained the parcel for about two decades, asked council to abandon the northern piece to him and the southern portion to his neighbor. Wright said he did not expect the city to construct the connecting road in the near future and that he had kept the parcel mowed and maintained.

Council members weighed competing concerns: residents’ long‑term stewardship of the parcel and the city’s need to protect utility infrastructure and emergency access. The motion adopted by the committee abandons the unimproved right‑of‑way to the applicants while expressly retaining public‑utility and drainage easements to protect existing water and sewer facilities and preserve the city’s ability to construct a future roadway if required.

Speakers included Nick Tuttle (staff), James Wright (applicant) and multiple council members. The transcript records the committee’s approval and notes the condition to retain easements; the committee also discussed broader city‑wide inventory of unimproved roadways to consider connecting for better circulation.