By admin The Catholic Bishop of Charleston is asking that a portion of a road in Lexington County be closed to the public and conveyed to a local church for potential expansion plans.
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Our Lady of the Hills Catholic Church is located on Marydale Lane. The road dead-ends at the church off of Bush River Road in the Seven Oaks neighborhood, behind a beauty salon and across from the Christian Life Assembly church. It sees little traffic and little public use, according to a lawsuit filed July 14.
The portion of Marydale Lane contains approximately 0.63 acres and is currently operated and maintained by the S. C. Department of Transportation. But according to the lawsuit, the road has ceased to serve a useful purpose — the vast majority, if not all the traffic, is the church’s parishioners, staff or guests.
The church is asking that a court order SCDOT to abandon the road, declare that it is no longer a public road and order the Lexington County Register of Deeds to make it record.
The end of the road is wholly located within the boundaries of the church’s property, according to the lawsuit. It is not necessary for public access or travel, the lawsuit said, and closing it would not affect the general public.
The church published its intentions to close the road in the Lexington County Chronical for several weeks, from June 18 until July 2. It also mailed a notice to the neighboring Christian Life Assembly and posted a sign on the road, according to the lawsuit.
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“The closing of the Road is essential to the Petitioner because it intends to utilize the area contained in within the Road for is future expansion plans,” the lawsuit reads, including construction and improvement on the property.
Continued maintenance by SCDOT would be a “needless waste” of public funds, the lawsuit claims.
Attorney for the Bishop of Charleston, Ian McVey, said the case was fairly routine when contacted by The State.
According to the lawsuit, SCDOT doesn’t object to closing the road and the church believes Lexington County will waive any rights or interest in the property.
SCDOT subsequently filed a response on July 24, which stated the agency does not object to the road closure, as long as the existing width of the right of way intersecting with Bush River Road remained the same. It asked the court to take whatever action it deems proper.
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