CHILDERSBURG — Discussion at the public hearing for a proposed road closing last week not only irked residents of Chancellor Circle — the street in question — but it also opened an old wound for property owners who felt a similar request several years ago did not receive a fair hearing.Mollie Bearden of Alpine and her brother Leonard MacLeroy of Childersburg were present at the hearing to question the City Council about the proper protocol for requests to close a road and challenge the city to return land they say legally belongs to them.
“A few years ago I asked them to vacate a road that I happened to have a new deed on,” said Bearden, who owns a parcel of property on what is now known as Sixth Avenue Southwest, but was formerly known as 14th Street.
Since 1998, Bearden and MacLeroy have gone before the City Council numerous times to try to reclaim a .69-acre portion of their property that currently has a street going over it, which the city claimed in March of 2001 for prescriptive right-of-way. According to reports from the time, Mayor B.J. Meeks said he voted to declare the land public because he believes residents had been using the street in its current form for more than 20 years, which fits the criteria for declaring prescriptive right-of-way.
Bearden, however, said she offered a plethora of evidence to the contrary and the City Council refused to retract its decision. The council also refused to take her up on any of her requests that they trade her and MacLeroy land for the land the city was using, or they close the road and return the land.
Furthemore, Bearden said, “They never did a hearing for me, and I never found out what the procedure was. If there is a procedure you go through when you want something vacated, why didn’t they go through that procedure with me? Everybody should be treated equally.”
At the public hearing, Bearden requested permission to speak to the council during the town hall meeting which was to follow.
““Y’all never offered me a hearing,” Bearden told the council. “You never offered me anything other than a hard time. This has been an ongoing thing for us for eight solid years. The other day when I heard about this public hearing just opened another wound. It hit me like a ton of bricks. I have never heard of the council advertising the city wanting to vacate a piece of property. If they had a procedure that they would follow if somebody wants them to vacate a street, I want somebody to help me figure out why the city of Childersburg doesn’t have to abide by those rules with everybody.”
The catalyst for Bearden’s appearance to the council nearly a decade after her battle for the land began, was the repaving of Sixth Avenue two weeks ago. It resulted in a new encroachment of nearly three feet onto Bearden’s property.
“We came to this City Council for a year and a half before I got counsel, pleading with you guys for something, and y’all stood there every time and said, ‘We didn’t take the land; we didn’t encroach on your property,’” she said. “Well, I’m here tonight to tell you, y’all did it again this week when you paved. So, since you guys said prescriptive easement—that’s what y’all voted on, right?—that’s what y’all had and what you could use. We had an understanding that you would stay on the pavement. This week, you moved the pavement.”
Although the city claims the road-covered part of her land for prescriptive right-of-way, Bearden said she still pays taxes on that land and has documents substantiating her claim, as well as a petition of 1,500 names for the city to vacate the property.
Meeks told Bearden and MacLeroy they been given several opportunities to speak before the council about their property, but Bearden said it was never a formal hearing, following it up with a request for one now, since she lost more land. Meeks said they would schedule Bearden’s formal hearing for a date in November after the new council members have been installed.
