Commissioners approve vacation of Irish Lake stub road after contested public comment
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Summary
After extensive public testimony both for and against, county commissioners approved a petition to vacate a stub road in the Irish Lake area; the planning commission had recommended the vacation 8–0.
County commissioners voted to vacate a parcel of a platted right-of-way (a stub road) in the Irish Lake area after a contested public hearing in which multiple neighbors testified for and against the proposal.
Planning staff said the stub road leads into marshy, likely non-buildable land owned by the petitioners and that the area plan commission recommended the vacation 8–0. Petitioners told the commissioners the vacated portions would be combined with adjacent lots so the parcels would not be landlocked; an attorney for the petitioners provided a survey and said title work would transfer the tract portions to the adjoining owners and to a marsh island held in the same ownership.
Several neighbors opposed the vacation at the commissioners meeting, describing decades of informal shared use of the stub road for overflow parking and asserting the road provides communal access used at times for holidays and visits. One neighbor said the area had been used for community parking on busy weekends and cited longstanding local practice; another neighbor described a history of interpersonal conflict and alleged harassment connected to the property. Petitioners and their counsel disputed those characterizations and said the road does not provide water access and that the remonstration included references to earlier litigation and an agreed judgment that limited certain parties’ access.
During the hearing petitioner counsel summarized the survey and said the tract terminates in marshland that the owners have no intention to build and will instead keep as conservation-like land. Planning staff confirmed access concerns had been checked with relevant emergency services and with the municipality.
After public comments, a commissioner recommended approving the vacation, noting the area plan commission’s unanimous recommendation and statutory criteria for vacation. A motion to accept the area plan commission recommendation and approve the vacation passed by voice vote.