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Residents urge Patrick County supervisors not to close Dogwood Road serving Hart Reynolds Memorial School
Summary
Multiple residents and precinct officials urged the Patrick County Board of Supervisors to keep Dogwood Road open, arguing it provides daily access to schools, businesses and voting precincts and warning that permanent closure would remove a 'grandfathered' road from future VDOT standards and access.
Tara Burgess told the board she opposes closing the section of Dogwood Road in front of Hart Reynolds Memorial School because the road "serves all the public as an open thoroughfare," listing daily destinations — the school, hospital, transfer station, courthouse, county offices and voting site — that rely on the route.
Several speakers cited a petition of 466 signatures submitted to the board and urged the supervisors to pursue alternatives to closure, such as flashing school speed signs, crossing gates or crossing guards, rather than taking an action that residents warned would be irreversible under VDOT rules. Precinct official Rhonda Pruitt noted the closure would affect the Kreitz Stella precinct, which she said has more than 1,700 registered voters and uses the school gym as its polling place; she asked where voters would be relocated if the gym became inaccessible.
Board members heard additional testimony that the vote to close the road taken previously may be procedurally flawed; speakers asked the supervisors to re-run any decision with proper public notice and to consider the long-term cost of returning a closed, grandfathered road to VDOT standards. The speakers asked the board for more study of alternatives before any final action.
