Attorney says Buckridge Rd. is 'not the county's battle'

Mar. 24—Cumberland County Attorney Philip Burnett advised the county's Regional Planning Commission a dispute over access to an old road in the southwestern portion of the county is not their fight.

"We should not be a party to a lawsuit," Burnett told the commission as he reviewed the road's history. "It's not the county's battle."

Last month, Everitt Bolin asked the planning commission to adopt Buckridge Rd. as a county road. It had been used as a road for generations, he said, and suggested it had simply been left off the county's road list at some point in the past.

"I know it's a county road because my ancestors used to have to work so many days a month to maintain it," Bolin told the commission last month.

The road had offered recreational access in years past, Bolin said. But in recent years, the owners of the property the road travels through have gated it, restricting access to the area.

Burnett, at the direction of Planning Commission Chairman Russell Smith, researched the road's history.

Only about .22 miles of the road has been listed as a county road on the official county road list. The county adopts this list each year, and the roads named are the only roads the county can spend money to maintain.

The rest of the road, about 3.3 miles, crosses privately owned land, traveling into neighboring White County and then back into Cumberland County as Puncheon Camp Creek Rd.

It's found on maps of the county, and aerial views show a roadway.

Burnett reviewed road lists from as early as 1990, when the county road superintendent began keeping a list. Buckridge Rd. was not on the list.

In the mid-1990s, the county commission began adopting an official road list each year. Then, the regional planning commission was established, which reviewed roads and recommended the list to the commission.

It was then that a small portion of the road was included, which provides access to a residence.

But the road is marked on maps, like tax assessor maps.

"They all show Buckridge Rd.," Burnett said. "I can understand why Mr. Bolin and people in the community would want to know, 'what is this creature.'"

Burnett said he visited the county property assessor's office and reviewed tax maps of the area.

That showed a public right of way through the privately owned property, which was not included in tax assessments.

"No tax has been paid on Buckridge Rd. since at least the mid-'60s," Burnett said. "It's about 11 or 12 acres that's not taxed."

The oldest official map in the county is from 1976, which reflects the road, Burnett said.

"If you look all over Cumberland County, you're going to find roads that are not on your county road list that are treated by the [Tennessee Comptroller of the Treasury] as public right of ways."

Burnett spoke with a representative in the Tennessee Department of Property Assessment, where he learned how state maps were developed. In the 1960s, the state sent surveyors across the state. They used deeds and walked property to plot the maps.

"The only way for this to make their map is if it were on deeds," Burnett said.

Roads often "morphed" over time.

"Wagon trails, log roads, all these roads that people just accept as being ways to travel, they morphed into public right-of-ways, they get located into deeds. They're designated," Burnett said.

"That road has been there since at least the '60s, because that's how it got on that map."

But, most of the road has never been added to the county's road list, Burnett said. And it has not been maintained to county road standards.

Burnett said he contacted County Technical Assistance Service, which offers technical services to counties, including attorneys who specialize in various areas of law.

There, he was advised the county should never adopt a "substandard road."

"That's our problem here," Burnett said. "The road doesn't really go anywhere except to farmland and tree farms. There's no homes down there at this point. You don't have a great cause to need it to be a county road that is adopted and maintained by the county."

Adopting a road that does not meet county standards can lead to litigation regarding other substandard roads.

Burckridge Rd. traverses about 12,000 acres currently owned by Sequatchie LLC.

Burnett said he has had communication with their attorney that adopting the road as a county road would lead to litigation.

Burnett said the residents of the community could bring their own legal action against the company to have the road named a public road to remove the gate.

"There's a conflict out there. I gave them a good starting point with what I've done," Burnett said. "That community can file suit and fight that battle with all this history."

Then, it's up to the court to rule. If determined to be a public right of way, the county would not be required to maintain the road, Burnett said. It would simply prohibit the gating of the road.

Heather Mullinix is editor of the Crossville Chronicle. She covers schools and education in Cumberland County. She may be reached at hmullinix@crossville-chronicle.com.