Concerns on Frenchie Road in Pioche

Construction work on Frenchie Road in Pioche has some local residents disturbed because they did not know the work was going to take place and close off the road.

County Building Director Cory Lytle said the town board has been discussing the matter because there is a main flood channel that runs through there.

?There has been some development in the past that kind of changes the way the water gets diverted and has caused some issues,? he said.

Lytle said the board talked to members of the County Road Department, who in turn talked to some of the affected landowners and discussed some ideas.

He said, ?In a normal abandonment or vacating a county right of way or a road right of way, there is a process that goes through the County Planning Commission, public forums, etc. In this particular case, the road department and County Highway Commission determined there was an illegal right of way on Frenchie Road. Once used as a firebreak, over time it has become a roadway, even involving at a five-way stop at one point on Airport Road.?

Flooding and safety issues seem to the major points of concern at this time, he said.

Lytle noted the District Attorney?s office allowed the abandonment process, and in so doing discovered some local residents were not aware of entire scope of the project being planned, but thought the townspeople and the town board are working to get the matters resolved. ?It?s going down a different path than the normal process to vacate a road,? Lytle said.