Commissioners approve ordinance to vacate alley right-of-way in Alexandria

The Madison County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously to pass Ordinance 2026-BC-O-6, approving a petition to vacate an alley/right-of-way adjacent to a residential property in Alexandria. The petition, filed by the trustees of the Richard L. Earl Thompson and Rush Willamette Thompson revocable living trust, seeks to resolve title issues caused by a driveway and garage that were built partially on public land.

At the public hearing, Mike Gehringer of Adams Township argued against the vacation on policy grounds, saying it could create an undesirable precedent. "If someone builds on or across a publicly platted right of way, without 1st obtaining an accurate survey, should the county solve that mistake by vacating public property," Gehringer said, urging the county to apply rules consistently. Trust representative Jonathan Friese said the encroachment dated back decades and that the trust worked to include neighboring properties in the survey; he said the trust would not oppose recorded easements for utilities. Chair (speaker 1) and other commissioners reasoned that joining the unused land to adjoining owners would return it to taxable rolls and agreed to include utility easement language as requested.

The board closed the public hearing, waived the usual notice rules, and passed the ordinance by voice vote. The chair noted that remonstration rights generally require showing a specific injury under the applicable statute and that, in this case, the petition proceeded based on adjacent landowner impacts.