title
Commissioner Brown - County Manager - To Authorize the County Manager or Designee to Negotiate, Finalize, Execute, and Record Easement Documents and any Other Related Necessary Agreements Between Gaston County and Private Property Owners to Memorialize an Existing Visual Easement Known as Gobbler Way
body
STAFF CONTACT
Ray Maxwell - County Manager’s Office -704.866.7551
BUDGET IMPACT
budget
N/A
body
BUDGET ORDINANCE IMPACT
N/A
BACKGROUND
Gaston County owns approximately 335 acres of land off Killian Road in the Riverbend Township which is leased and operated as Mountain Island Educational State Forest by the N.C. Forest Service of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources. In 1998, the County acquired the property subject to any “visual easements, restrictions, and rights of way as may be apparent from a visual inspection of the property.”
The County’s land lies between Killian Road and four (4) parcels bordering the Catawba River. Three of those parcels are owned by members of the Cherry and Nixon families; one parcel is owned by the Marshall family (collectively, the “Owners”). There is one non-residential structure on the Cherry/Nixon parcels that has traditionally been used for recreational purposes. An approximately ten-foot gravel drive known as Gobbler Way has been used by the Owners to gain access to their properties. The ‘visual’ easement language used in the deed and the prior usage created a vague property right in need of clarification.
The proposed easement will establish the ten-foot gravel drive as a permanent easement for the benefit of the Owners’ properties for the sole purposes of ingress, egress, and regress. The County will not be required to improve Gobbler Way, and the Owners will be responsible for any damage done to the County’s property by their use of the easement. Approval of this Board Action authorizes the County Attorney to draft any necessary documents for recording purposes and authorizes the County Manager to negotiate the final terms and conditions of the easement and execute any necessary documents, including for recording purposes.
POLICY IMPACT
N/A
ATTACHMENTS
Gobbler Way Map