Cascade County Commissoners voted 3-0 to abandon a portion of Old Armington Highway from the intersection at Peacemaker Ridge Road southbound to the intersection with the recreation/emergency secondary access known as Clubhouse Road. The road is near Armington Junction.

Trophy Property Developers Inc. petitioned the county to abandon the road. The road is currently impassable and was closed by order of the Public Works director for safety purposes. The northern half of the abandonment has been barricaded since 2011 when part of it washed out after consecutive days of heavy rain. The southern half is effectively a dead-end that doesn’t provide primary access to any other parcels.

In November, planning staff visited the area with Commissioners Jim Larson and Jane Weber in separate trips.

Trophy Property Developers wants to take over the road to privately fund reconstruction and incorporate the road into the Ranches at Belt Creek subdivision.

The abandonment won’t be final until all adjacent property owners sign a certificate of survey, according to county planning staff.

County planner Sandor Hopkins said the abandonment won’t impact public safety access or utilities in the area.

The county received no written or verbal comments about the proposal during the public comment period.

Mark Hawn, representing the developers, said the area is growing and they’re planning more housing construction.

Hawn said incorporating the road into the development and repairing it will allow them to keep construction traffic of the nearby county road with a bridge.

Hawn said they plan to gate it and restrict access.

David Glicko, an adjacent landowner, said he hadn’t been contacted by the developers and didn’t want to assume liability for the road.

Certified mail with notification of the proposal was sent to all adjacent property owners in late March, according to county planners. A public hearing was held in December.

Commissioners and county staff told him that all details pertaining to ownership, maintenance and liability would be worked out among the adjacent owners and if all involved parties can’t come to agreement and don’t sign the certificate of survey, the abandonment wouldn’t be finalized.

They have six months to come to agreement.

 

Brian Clifton, county public works director, said the road barriers wouldn’t be removed until the abandonment was finalized. Once the abandonment is finalized, the barriers would be removed and the county would post a sign indicating the end of a county road and the beginning of a private road.