Limedale roads to become two dead ends

Treated as a single U-shaped road by motorists for more than 80 years, two short roads east of Manhattan Road in Greencastle Township will now be a pair of dead ends.

A zoning issue being considered by the City of Greencastle recently revealed that County Road 280 South wasn’t officially a road according to county plat books.

On the other hand, County Road 285 South, the other half of the U, is platted as a road.

Both roads are on the county’s inventory with the State of Indiana, as is the short section of road connecting the two from north to south.

City Planner Scott Zimmerman was at the Putnam County Commissioners’ second October meeting to ask for some sort of resolution to the matter and was back on Monday.

“We’d simply like to understand what the county’s intention is in dealing with this area so that anything the city decides does not become a burden to the county,” Zimmerman said.

Properties along 280 South are within the two-mile fringe of the city, leaving zoning decisions up to Greencastle officials.(see separate story on the Greencastle BZA) However, the road remains the responsibility of the county.

Rich Parrish, a resident along 280 South, was also in attendance at both meetings, asking that the road and connector become an official county road. In the earlier meeting, he presented evidence that the entirety of both roads had been used by motorists as early as 1939.

On Monday, Kayla Brennan and Scott Williams, both of whom own businesses at the east end of 280, were also in attendance.

Brennan and Williams said they did not want to see the north-south connector area become a road.

The part that has been treated as a connector lies on Brennan’s property, and while it is needed for access to Williams’ property, they said they preferred to handle the matter with an easement rather than county right-of-way.

With the Commissioners leaning toward this solution, simply establishing the east-west section of 280 as a road, Parrish expressed his displeasure.

“I live on 280. It’s been a county road since at least 1939. What would be the provocation to make it not a county road?” Parrish asked. “In my mind, it’s kind of a no-brainer. We’ve been using that as a county road for at least eight decades.”

For their part, Commissioners Rick Woodall, Tom Helmer and David Berry seemed to want no part in the headache of acquiring the land for the extra portion of road to connect to 285 South.

“If we include that other part, that little section, we’re going to have to acquire that land,” Woodall said.

At this, Parrish said he did not want to see people turning around on his property when they reached the dead end.

“Where are people going to turn around if you dead end that road?” he asked.

“You are correct,” Woodall replied. “We’re going to have to create some kind of dead end.”

The county will move forward with formally making 280 a road by notifying all adjoining property owners.

In other business:

• Highway Supervisor Mike Ricketts reported that demolition of condemned buildings obtained by the county in downtown Russellville had begun.

Several buildings on the east side of Harrison Street are on the docket, but not all had been touched as of Monday. The county was waiting for an official agreement with the Town of Russellville regarding the former Russellville Town Hall. The Russellville Town Council was set to meet in a special session on the matter Wednesday.

Ricketts said crews got a good response from local residents who saw they were taking out the old eyesores.

“We actually had people going by honking and giving us a thumbs up,” Ricketts said. “I’m not used to that.”

• Ricketts also said the highway department had made around $140,000 by selling 10 pieces of old equipment through the online auction site govdeals.com.

One particular truck, a 2005 Sterling, cost the county $91,000 when it was new 16 years ago and still brought $85,000 at auction.

• The Commissioners briefly discussed redistricting, with Woodall noting that the three commissioners’ districts fell within 8-10 percent population of one another in the 2020 Census.

As such, no redistricting will be needed for the upcoming 10 years.

• The possibility of widening County Road 725 East and County Road 600 North from Groveland to Heritage Lake was briefly discussed.

Shannon McCullough, who owns a real estate business at the intersection of the two roads, noted the need for a wider path in the area, considering the growth of the Heritage Lake area and the number of accidents that have occurred on the roads.

Ricketts, while not disagreeing with the need, expressed doubt at the ability to do something in the near future. He noted the necessary right-of-way for shoulders and ditches and the need for federal money to do so.

While federal money is available for such projects, Ricketts pointed out that federal aid work was done on 725 East in 2013, but there was not enough money to widen the road.

He wasn’t sure the road would again be eligible for federal money this soon.

The next meeting of the Putnam County Commissioners is set for 9 a.m. on Monday, Nov. 15 on the first floor of the Putnam County Courthouse.