Southeast Adams County landowners are seeking help from county officials to help remedy a road so seriously eroding by rainfall and creek overflows that their properties could soon be totally inaccessible by vehicles.
Adams County supervisors said they’ll search for money to address the erosion crisis for the property owners, but little hope was offered. The rural Deerfield Road that connects to Garden City Road is not county-owned and would require large amounts of money to correct.
“We will try to find funds to help, … but, legally, we cannot do much to help,” county board President Kevin Wilson told the Sandy Creek community landowners at a county Board of Supervisors meeting Monday.
State law does not allow county officials to spend public funds on private roads.
The Sandy Creek area landowners noted U.S. Postal Service carriers have stopped delivering mail to area residences because of deteriorating road conditions. Emergency and utility vehicles are also unable to access the area, which is about 20 miles from Natchez.
A major electric transmission line traverses the area, which supervisors said could prompt utilities to take steps to ensure it’s accessible for maintenance.
The federal government does provide funds to eligible recipients to remedy soil erosion or flooding problems. The Emergency Watershed Protection Program does require local governments or recipients to pay part of the remediation costs.
There are houses and hunting camps around the problem-plagued creek and road that are by the Sandy Creek State Wildlife Management Area and near the Franklin County line.
This is fairly simple and straightforward in Louisiana. The private owners get the road in shape to meet the minimum design standards of the state transportation department, then request that the road be taken into the parish road system. Thereafter, the parish maintains. If the public nature of the road changes, the road can be abandoned by the parish and reverts back to private.