Eagle Lake roads recurring topic of Monday’s supervisor work session

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During Monday’s Warren County Board of Supervisors work session, roadways and possible repair solutions were a theme that kept coming up for discussion.

Eagle Lake resident Ken Klaus opened the meeting with a detailed presentation to the members in attendance (board President Dr. Jeffrey Holland was on vacation) on abandoning Shell Beach Road. Klaus approached the board last winter near the end of their terms, but they failed to take any action on the matter.

The basis for Klaus’s request is the slope of his property going to the lakefront. Repairs to the road would potentially require taking portions of his already diminished property and further devaluing it. Klaus has agreement from three other area homeowners whom this would directly impact.

Klaus explained to the supervisors in detail how roadways have had to be moved due to damage after flooding in 1973 and in the years since. He said there are several Mississippi tenets for abandoning the road and that at least two are met in this case.

His contention is that only nonresidential traffic such as sight seers and recreational vehicles use the road and abandoning it would save the county money and increase the value of homes in the area by allowing the properties to be sloped and landscaped.

District 2 Supervisor William Banks stated his opposition to abandoning Shell Beach Road saying repairs weren’t done last year due to monetary constraints. Other supervisors gave no indication of their positions on the matter.

Erosion on Shell Beach Road (Photo by Thomas Parker)

Later in the meeting, Brian Robbins brought three unresolved Stantec projects to the board for review as the board is working to resolve all outstanding business with the county’s previous engineering firm. One of those projects is repairs to Eagle Lake Shore Road, which was shelved due to flooding in 2019. Robbins was advised to confer with Keith O’Keefe and take the necessary steps to move the project under the purview of the county’s current engineering firm, Neel-Schaffer. Eagle Lake Shore Road qualifies for state aid because it connects to a state highway, but there are numerous arduous steps in the process of getting that aid.

Later in the meeting, the matter was discussed with O’Keefe who said there were several areas of concern with the roadway, including issues with a culvert near Maxwell’s Landing. The board asked O’Keefe to follow up on the matter.

The supervisor’s next regular meeting is Monday, July 6.