5541.05 County commissioners may place graveled or unimproved road in nonmaintained status.

(A) Except as otherwise provided in division (D) of this section, a board of county commissioners by resolution may place a graveled or unimproved county road under its jurisdiction or any portion of such a road on nonmaintained status. Upon adoption of such a resolution, the board is not required to cause the road to be dragged at any time, or to cut, destroy, or remove any brush, weeds, briers, bushes, or thistles upon or along the road, or to remove snow from the road, or to maintain or repair the road in any manner. The board, in its discretion, may cause any of these actions to be performed on or to a road that it has placed on nonmaintained status.

(B) A board may adopt a resolution under this section only if the board finds that placing the road on nonmaintained status will not unduly adversely affect the flow of motor vehicle traffic on that road or on any other road located in the immediate vicinity of that road as determined by the overall use of the road during the preceding twenty-one years.

(C) A board may terminate the nonmaintained status of a county road by adopting a resolution to that effect. If the owner of land adjoining a road that has been placed on nonmaintained status requests the board to terminate the nonmaintained status of the road, the board, in its resolution that terminates that nonmaintained status, may require the owner to pay the costs of upgrading the road to locally adopted county standards.

(D) A graveled road may not be placed on nonmaintained status if any person resides in a residence adjacent to the road, the road is the exclusive means for obtaining access to the residence, and the residence is the person’s primary place of residence.

Effective Date: 06-10-2004