Whitebirch Seven Addition was originally platted with a road
access known as Shawnee Pass. This
roadway came off of Robin Lane just off Co. Rd. 11. A portion of Shawnee Pass still exists as the
access to the golf course maintenance facilities. Shawnee Pass was proposed to
be vacated with a new roadway to be established. The new roadway is currently the entrance to
Antlers restaurant, known as Whitebirch Drive.
The replacement roadway became an issue for a number of
reasons and the issue of its development took on a life of its own. Without going into details the city took
exception to the “island” that was developed in the middle of the roadway. This island includes vegetation, a sign and
perhaps a light standard. The city
eventually acquired an easement for the roadway to provide ingress and egress
but refused to maintain it. The roadway
easement was needed to provide access to properties to the west of Antlers
restaurant.
With the development of Creek Circle and another portion of
Whitebirch Drive the issue of right-of-way and maintenance was discussed. Additional development occurring in
Whitebirch Seven Addition required improvements to be made to the adjoining
roadway. It was felt the issue of access
needed to be resolved. Part of the resolution
to the issue included an easement document that couldn’t be recorded as the
reference legal descriptions have changed and the copy was not properly
signed. Other concerns included roadway
location and the need for an accurate description of the right-of-way.
The new description for the easement was accomplished and
the city council considered the acceptance of the easement and related
maintenance of that portion of the roadway.
At the October City Council meeting a decision was made to accept the
easement and maintenance responsibilities for this section of roadway. This section of roadway now is under the
control of the city and the issue has been resolved.
One change that may be noticed is the stop sign stopping
traffic on Whitebirch Drive will be moved to stop traffic coming out of that
parking lot so Whitebirch Drive is free flowing to Co. Rd. 11. Making this change however has caught some
people off guard. They assume oncoming traffic
will stop where the sign was previously located. This has resulted in some near
accidents. Hoping to solve this, a sign
will be installed that informs people that oncoming traffic does not stop.
