T-L Photo/ROBERT A. DEFRANK Michael Shaheen, left, of the Shaheen Law Group speaks to Commissioner J.P. Dutton Tuesday.

ST. CLAIRSVILLE — The Belmont County Commissioners heard from Attorney Michael Shaheen on Tuesday, who presented a petition requesting that the county dedicate the Country Lake Estates Drive in Richland Township. He added the Richland Township Trustees have also joined in signing the petition.

“We had a petition signed by dozens of people,” Shaheen said prior to asking the trustees to sign as well.

He was joined Tuesday by about 20 property owners and residents. Shaheen said there are approximately 70 property owners and the 20-year-old road has never been dedicated and so does not receive snow removal, repairs and other services.

“It’s a dedicated private road now. It needs to be taken over by the county,” he said prior to the meeting. He said school buses are unable to go up the road and school children must gather at the end of the road. Shaheen said medical vehicles are also challenged by the terrain.

“It’s not even safe to walk in some places,” he said.

Afterward, he said the overall plan was for the county to bring the road up to standards, then turn it over to the township trustees for maintenance. He said the request was based on Ohio Revised Code 5553.04, 05 and 06.

Shaheen attended with Diane Senakievich, member of his law group and lead counsel on this matter. Shaheen and Senakievich said they hoped this matter would not need to be settled in court.

“We are going to ask the county to take over this road. If they don’t take over this road, we’ll have to investigate other avenues,” Senakievich said earlier.

Shaheen agreed.

“It’s not our intent or desire nor the intent or desire of the residents who have hired us to initiate a lawsuit, that’s not at all our preference, but it’s unacceptable to continue the road in its current state, so something had to happen,” he said.

“We come in the spirit of cooperation. While I’m sure the commissioners are aware of our concerns, I’m not sure they are aware of the severity of the road, much less the safety factors and the challenges people face living out there. We’re prepared to work with them,” Shaheen said.

He said about six years ago, the residents had tried unsuccessfully to explore the dedication process without legal counsel.

The commissioners accepted the petition and information provided by Shaheen and said they would review it with the county engineer. Shaheen said he and the residents expected there would be a review and a public hearing scheduled. Shaheen said the residents are prepared to pay for the survey and rededication of the road.

He said the residents of Country Lake Estates have paid almost $3 million in real estate taxes since the creation of the subdivision 20 years ago.

Shaheen said road’s dedication was “overlooked” due to errors during the recording process, and a bond was not put in place. He said the developer, Seedco Inc., has joined in the petition.

Shaheen believes the cost to bring the road up to standard may be $300,000 to $400,000, although this has not been vetted.

Commissioner J.P. Dutton said there is a process involved and the engineer’s office is separate from the commissioners. He added the commissioners are aware of the issue and have looked over the road.

“It really is a difficult situation and we can appreciate that,” he said, adding four years ago this has spurred the county to begin upgrading its subdivision regulations for the first time since 1964. “We are very close to unveiling our drafts of those regulations. … We take this issue seriously so it doesn’t happen again, and we’ll talk about options about correcting this issue.”

Dutton said the trustees and the engineer would be involved, and Shaheen said the trustees would not take the road as it is.

“This situation specifically, it’s been difficult. We play a part obviously in roads becoming public or private, but we’re not the sole place where that occurs,” Dutton said.

“We recognize this is a very important area to Belmont County, and a very difficult situation,” Dutton said.

Assistant Prosecutor Jacob Manning attended and took notes. He had no comment but said the prosecutor’s office would review the proposal and give a recommendation.

Belmont County Engineer Terry Lively was away for the week.

According to the Richland Township Trustees, they support the petition but said the road must be brought to standard prior to Richland Township Trustees accepting it as a township road.