County approves clarified right-of-way policy

CELINA - Mercer County commissioners this morning approved a "100 percent clear right-of-way" policy to further support the county engineering department in its bid to remove trees and brush that encroach on county roads.

County engineer Jim Wiechart this week met with commissioners to explain the reasons behind his request. His department, made up of 24 full-time employees, to ramp up the clearing of obstructions and potentially dangerous obstacles on 384 miles of county roadways. A third of fatal accidents involving vehicles that go off roadways involved trees, Wiechart pointed out.

"So throughout the years we've been trying to get better control over our rights-of-way where we have trees and brush encroaching toward the pavement into the public road right-of-way," he told commissioners. "And it's one of those things that we are getting more and more of the rights-of-way opened up."

"Most of our rights-of-way are very narrow," he said. "There's very few rights-of-way that we have that are wider than 60 foot, so a tree is a fixed feature and it is a hazard."

A resolution of support from commissioners, Wiechart said, is "the next logical step" for clarification and consistency of his department's work to clear public rights-of-way.

Engineers try to establish a clear zone adjacent to the pavement to limit the impact of potential accidents.

"If a vehicle goes off the road, it has the potential to either recover or also not hit a fixed feature obstruction," Wiechart said. "So we have gotten to the point where we have cleared a lot of our rights-of-way off but not all of them."

However, Wiechart said his department won't dramatically change its tree-cutting operations in the coming years.

"I think you're just going to see some areas where we maybe didn't do some (removal) that we would do," he said.

Commissioner Greg Homan asked if Wiechart's department faces opposition when removing trees from rights-of-way.

It doesn't happen often, Wiechart said. Since becoming county engineer in 2002, Wiechart said he's experienced five to 10 instances in which landowners became upset with the county for cutting down trees in rights-of-way.

"I think it's more of an emotional thing, how they feel about that tree if it's in the public road right-of-way," Wiechart said. "From going from the policy we've had to a little more-extensive policy, I don't really expect a whole lot more question or concern, but I mean, that potential is there."

Wiechart said there are no specific areas he intends to target.

Instead of just sending a letter informing residents of the tree or brush cutting to be done, employees often meet with property owners ahead of time to explain the reason for the work, Wiechart said.

"I love trees myself," he added.

Crews attempt to remove trees in the least invasive way, grind the stump and offer the wood to the adjacent property owner, Wiechart said.

It does not, though, offer a replacement tree.

The engineering department typically clears brush and trees from the rights-of-way from November to March and during federally funded road-improvement projects, as required by grants, Wiechart said.

"It's an operation that we do outside of snow and ice control," he said.

Each year, employees compile a list of tree and brush removal projects from landowners, township trustees, the public and department staff, Wiechart said.

Engineers also have to factor in utility line relocations when considering public safety and planning brush and tree removal, he said.

"We have been in situations where there's been trees where utilities have to try to jog around them and that can be an impediment. It can be a real problem as well," Wiechart said. "There's also liability issues related with trees on the right-of-way."

Commissioner Jerry Laffin this morning emphasized that utilities are permitted, in some cases, to be located inside the right-of-way.

"You have to work with the utilities," he said.

Administrative clerk Kim Everman said Wiechart's objective is "to allow for a better utility relocation process through his proposed concept."