Hearing on abandoning Stormont Road is Tuesday
The Middlesex County Board of Supervisors will hold a public hearing to “abandon” the section of Stormont Road (Route 629) that crosses Healy’s Millpond dam near Hartfield.
The public hearing will be at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, June 15, at the historic courthouse in Saluda. The county’s legal notice reads, “It appears to the board (of supervisors) that the safety and welfare of the public would be served best by abandoning the section of road.”
For several years, the county has battled with VDOT and landowner Gene Ruark of Deltaville to try to get the dam and road fixed. However, after court proceedings and other actions, it appears the road will not be fixed.
VDOT closed the road in March 2006 and first told the county it preferred to bypass the dam and build a bridge over the adjacent swamp and pond. This project was placed on the county’s six-year plan and funds were being accumulated for the project. However, the current recession and state budget cuts have caused VDOT to take the proposed bridge off Middlesex County’s six-year road improvement plan because of lack of funds.
VDOT officials also have informed supervisors the dam over Healy’s Millpond continues to deteriorate and will collapse, “sooner or later.” The hole in the dam has gone from 1 inch to about 5 inches and the earthen portion of the dam is now structurally unsound.
After Hurricane Floyd in 1999, the earthen portions of Healy’s Millpond and Barrick’s Millpond broke. VDOT repaired both roadbeds, but also warned it might be the last time it would do so.
The State Attorney General’s Office has since ruled that any future washouts of local dams would not be the responsibility of VDOT.
VDOT wants this matter closed and has recommended the road either be “discontinued” or “abandoned.” If the road is discontinued, rights-of-way will continue to exist but VDOT will not maintain that portion of the road. If the road is abandoned, the rights-of-way on that portion of the road will revert to adjoining landowners.
