When is a road not a road?
The Marion County Board of Supervisors is confronted with two questions over whether roads are private or public.
A gate on J.W. Davis Lane off Lampton Hilltop Road has been in discussion for more than four years, according to Tonya Johnson, whose parents live on the small lane. The board has agreed to re-measure the road to determine which part is public and which is private. District 5 Supervisor Calvin Newsom said the Board had made a previous decision saying it was public up to a certain point.
And on West Jackson Street in Foxworth, supervisors voted unanimously to correct what they said was an error on the 2000 road registry. They will move forward with the process of abandoning the road where the pavement ends.
Property owners said it had been a private road for more than six decades. Kevin Haddox spoke with the Board for the first time in March and was told the Board could find the initial registry in error and declare it private.
But then local developer Ralph Franks expressed concern over the possibility of the road not being public because he’s purchased land that adjoins the area and said he went through channels to make sure it was a public road.
District 3 Supervisor Tony Morgan said the road was mapped in 2000 and the section added in error. He said he always thought it was private.
County Engineer Jeff Dungan said it was the board’s decision about what to do.
The J.W. Davis Lane dispute also hinges on what supervisors decide, according to Johnson.
“It’s been four years since I met with you about the matter,” Johnson told the board recently. “Nothing has been resolved all the way around. Mississippi law says that the Board of Supervisors shall have jurisdiction over all matters relating to the public roads of the county. On J.W. Davis Lane, there are two gates, a private drive sign and cameras.
“My dad tried to handle this a year before I got involved in 2014. Somewhere along the line I thought the he must not have been getting an resolution from it because he was not doing something right, so I stepped in to try to address it to find out if there was something I didn’t know about it. Is J.W. Davis lane not a road at the 1,400-foot length like it says in the paperwork? I addressed that with you. It ended up in court. The judge can’t make a ruling on it because it is up to the Board of Supervisors.”
She said her father travels through it daily and has to unlock the gate each time.
“As soon as he goes to his property, every single day, it is locked behind him. When he has to leave his property, he has to get out and unlock the gate again. For five years, it is documented that that gate has been across the road. This is a gate on a public road,” she said.
Johnson said she had spoken with the Board and Sheriff Berkley Hall about the issues and said if the board didn’t make a decision she was going to file a complaint with the Mississippi Ethics Commission.
She said she already had a report from the attorney general’s office. Johnson says the second gate falls within the 1,400 feet of J.W. Davis that is a public road.
Dungan said if the second gate is within 1,400 feet of Lampton Hilltop Road then it should not be closed.
County Board Attorney Joe Shepard suggested the road be re-measured to alleviate any problems, and the board is expected to discuss the results at a future meeting.
