Judge rules road to Lake Keowee is public

A judge’s ruling settles a circuit court dispute among neighboring Oconee property owners.  Judge McIntosh has declared the rural Ellenburg Road that leads to Lake Keowee is a public road and, further, there’s no evidence the county abandoned the road.  Today’s ruling favors defendants Oconee County as well as two partnerships that include other property owners.  It follows three days of testimony last month in a non-jury trial in the Oconee Common Pleas Court.  For several years the plaintiffs, members of the Ratliff family and others contended the county stopped maintaining the road and, as such, the road was abandoned.  But, in his decision, the judge said this:  “The Court finds that the statutory procedure for road closure is not the only way to close a road, but that common law abandonment still applies.  The plaintiffs,” said McIntosh, “did not proceed under the statutory requirements…..so, the only issue in this case is abandonment.”  The judge found there is an easement over Ellenburg Road and further no evidence the county abandoned the road by “unequivocal acts showing a clear intent to abandon.  Therefore, plaintiffs’ petition to have the road deemed abandoned and closed is denied.”  Among those who testified was Kyle Reid of the Oconee Roads and Bridges Department.  Besides the Ratliff family’s boat repair and storage business along Ellenburg Road, there are 15 acres named Arrowood Point.  There, developers are believed to have their sights set to build a 19-home subdivision.