Archived story
As originally published
Demorest City Council unanimously voted 4–0 on May 5 to abandon an unopened alley at Walnut Avenue and Ohio Street, formally ending the city’s action on a small right of way tied to a nearby property-line problem. The approved resolution covers the alley depicted in its Exhibit A and followed a motion and second at the council’s regular session.
The alley may be unopened and long unused, but its status carries practical consequences for the adjoining land. City officials said the requested closure was intended to address a garage-related property-line issue near the Carlson family’s parcel, making a municipal right of way an immediate question of boundaries, land use and who controls the strip.
Council began the formal process April 7, when it made a preliminary determination that the alley was unnecessary for public use and directed notice to adjacent owners ahead of a May 5 final action. At a work session before that vote, officials discussed the Carlson family’s request and said no utilities were present in the alley. Staff recommended proceeding, and the council later adopted the abandonment resolution unanimously.
City staff presented the closure as a way to resolve the garage property-line issue and said the lack of utilities removed one potential obstacle. The Carlson family was identified in the work-session discussion as requesting the action. Council members, meanwhile, approved the resolution without a recorded dissent. The records do not detail any separate position from neighboring owners or specify the final ownership arrangement for the abandoned area.
The abandonment is a completed council decision, not a pending proposal. But the May 5 work-session discussion should not be read as proof that a sale was ordered or completed: staff said that if a price were approved, it would be no less than 1.5 times assessed value. The record does not show that council set a price, required a transfer, received payment or documented that the April direction to notify adjacent owners was carried out.
No later meeting, filing or implementation step has been identified after the May 5 vote. The next public development would be a city record showing how the approved abandonment was carried out, including any adjacent-owner notice and any transfer terms or payment. Whether a transaction is required at all—and, if so, on what terms—remains undecided or unrecorded.