County Commission holds public hearing on petition to vacate road

In October, the Coffee County Commission received a petition from a landowner in Elba to get a portion of County Road 411 vacated and on Nov. 9, the commission held a public hearing to listen to members of the community.

County Road 411 is a dirt road just outside the city limits of Elba that leads straight down to the old Pea River Power Company Hydroelectric Dam.

A landowner on County Road 411 is requesting that the last 760 feet of the road be vacated, which would allow the property owner to limit access to that section of the road.

Local resident Deirdre Cahill objected to the vacation as she uses the road to walk her dog for much of the year.

“I walk my dogs every morning and have done so for 15 years. Between about Oct. 15 and Feb. 10 it’s hunting season and the only place I can walk my dog is up and down Co. Rd. 411,” Cahill said. “If that is closed off – even part of it – I won’t be able to do that anymore and that is very important to me to have that extra (760) feet so or so to be able to walk my dog.”

Another resident Nancy Moretti cited the Hydroelectric Dam’s historical significance and what she said was ongoing litigation with the dam’s ownership.

“The Elba Hydro Electric Power Company happens to be on the national registry of historic buildings and it sits at the end of County Road 411,” Moretti said. “The county would not be saving any money to close off this small portion of the road and it would be in the best interest of Coffee County to remain open.

“The federal government has ongoing litigation against the power company (owners). The case mandates the cleanup of the area and the removal of the seven-foot (wall) that was constructed on the original site without permits. The government found this wall to be the cause of the 2015 flood and that is especially important to Coffee County.”

Moretti said that closing off that portion of the road would close off access to the dam.

“According to the government, the owners of the dam have caused floods in other states and the owners of the Pea River dam are the only ones asking for the closure of the road. So, as to not show the appearance of improprieties the road should remain open until all legal action is complete. This will allow all authorized personnel to ensure that all mandates are being completed.”

However, the landowner requesting the vacation of the road – Todd Durga – is not the owner of the old dam. Also, while the dam is listed as a historic site, access to the site is not permitted to the public as it is located behind a locked gate.

Additionally, the “litigation” that Moretti is citing is based on letters she provided to the commission from the Federal Regulatory Commission to the owners of the dam. These letters do not constitute a lawsuit and do not allege that the dam was the cause of the 2015 flood. The letters indicate that the instillation of five-foot-high metal and concrete flashboards may have contributed to some upstream flooding during the event.

“The complaint claims (the former owner) raised the height of the flashboards, which caused upstream flooding during late December 2015,” the letter said. “The exemption states that the project has ‘five-foot-high stoplogs.’ (The owner’s) Dec. 22, 2015, letter states that in 2014 ‘the old wooden flashboards were removed and metal and concrete flash boards were installed on the top seven feet of the crested dam.’ This work was not authorized and most likely contributed to flooding upstream during the Dec. 2015 flood event.”

Subsequent letters state that the current owners of the dam could face penalties if they don’t complete required repairs of the facility, but not that they are being sued by the government. The vacation of the road would also not preclude the federal government from gaining access to the dam for inspections.

Michael Mullin of the Alabama Scenic River Trail urged the commission not to vacate that portion of the road for safety reasons.

“The structure on the river as it is now – damaged and degrading – is a potential chokepoint on the river where someone could be injured,” Mullin said. “If the dam is rebuilt and there is not a safe portage around the dam it could also be a chokepoint, and if that road is taken down it makes it more difficult to extract someone from that area. I am asking that the road remain open for safety purposes.”

Representatives of PowerSouth – who own land adjacent to the area and is accessed on Co. Rd. 411 – asked to at least be given the chance to work something out with the landowner before a decision is made.

“Our only position is that we do have property interests that are served by this road,”PowerSouth representative Patrick McCalman said. “We are certainly willing to work with the owners if the commission does elect to close the road to make certain we secure lawful access to it.

“The closure of the road at this point would close our legal access. We just want to make certain that before the commission took that action we are given the opportunity to work something out with the current owners to ensure we have legal access to the property.”

The area around Co. Rd. 411 has been a problem area for residents dumping trash in the past.

The commission made no votes or decisions at the hearing and will do so at a future meeting.