O’Neal not getting answers

Warren County businessman Dwight O’Neal attended the regularly scheduled Warren County Planning Commission meeting Tuesday night looking for answers, but found none forthcoming.

O’Neal received no resolution as to whether the county will tar and chip an .8-mile section of county road located in his development on Highway 8, The Reserve at Collins River, which includes a public golf course as well as a number of building lots.

Near the end of the meeting Planning Commission chairman Robert Collier asked if there was any further business.

‘Yes, I’ve got some other business if you’ve got the time,’ said O’Neal.

O’Neal then read from the minutes of a previous Planning Commission meeting on May 8 of 2006 at which his situation was discussed.

‘You have this in your minutes,’ O’Neal said. ‘It says, ‘Dwight O’Neal presented the final plat for the Collins Reserve sub-division. The question was asked regarding pavement of the existing road which is currently accepted, but is a sub-standard gravel road. Attorney Larry Stanley stated that as he read the sub-division regulations the Planning Commission could not require the existing portion of the road to be brought up to current standards. The motion was made by Keith Bouldin, seconded by Stevie Glenn, to table the decision on the plat pending research of this matter.’

O’Neal has been involved in a dialogue with county officials for some time now, with the most recent coming during a meeting of the Highway and Bridge Committee on Sept. 4 at which Warren County Road Superintendent Harold Glenn declared he could not do any work on the road because of legal issues concerning changes made by O’Neal to the original roadbed.

Glenn stated he could no longer determine what parts of the road belonged to the county and what was private property, and since he is legally prohibited by law to use county funds for road work on private property, he could not perform any kind of maintenance on the road until it was brought up to county sub-division requirements, which Glenn says includes hot-mix paving, and approved by the full County Commission for inclusion in the county road map.

But O’Neal stated he believes this is still county road and as such is the responsibility of the county.

‘I need to clear up a question of whether this is or is not a county road,’ O’Neal said. ‘I need to move forward with this.’

Planning Commission chairman Robert Collier said, other than some drainage issues, the situation is out of the commission’s hands.

‘All through the process, as I’ve stated, we assumed it was going to be paved,’ Collier said. ‘And Mr. Glenn, all through the process, said he wanted that road paved. We granted you final approval because you were saying you needed to sell some lots.’

Collier then stated the paving issue is out of the Planning Commission’s hands.

‘Now, as far as the road, the Planning Commission has nothing to do with what is expected of the road right now,’ Collier said.

Superintendent Glenn still maintained he could not legally perform any work on the road, as per a ruling by the state Attorney General.

‘It’s state law,’ Glenn said. ‘I could go to jail. But if Mr. O’Neal brings the road up to specifications, then I’ll be glad to recommend it to the Highway and Bridge and to the County Commission, and I’m sure it will be accepted. They’ve never turned down a road I’ve recommended before.’

At one point, County Executive John Pelham asked Glenn if it would help to appeal to the State Attorney for a ruling on this particular issue, which didn’t seem to be clear-cut.

‘I don’t see any point in that,’ Glenn said. ‘You read it didn’t you? You saw what it said. I can’t work on private property with county money. It’s illegal.’

‘Yes, I read it,’ said Pelham. ‘But there are some gray areas here. I was just hoping there was some way to resolve this issue to everyone’s benefit.’

In the end, no decision was made on the paving issue, but Pelham says he will continue to research the issue in an effort to reach a viable solution.