During their meeting yesterday evening the Knox City Council acted on a request from a citizen that was initially brought to their attention during a meeting earlier this month. At the July 15th meeting, local resident Steven Dodge presented a petition to establish a street on an existing city right-of-way to divert people away from the unofficial alley currently being used on his property at 801 S Bower St. At that meeting Dodge also showed the council research dating back to 1895 that showed a 33-ft-wide street was dedicated there between Portland and Bower streets.
At last night’s meeting The Council’s took the first step in solving the issue. Aside from a fence being put up on Dodge’s property, the street department will do an on-site inspection of the area to determine what the city would need to do. There are some oak trees in the region that could make it difficult for a street or alley to be established on the city right-of-way which was dedicated originally as VanBuren St.
Council President Don Kring suggested a motion be made to have Jeff Borg, the superintendent of the street department, mark out the existing city alleyway and establish the work that would need to be done. Council member Ronald Parker made the motion and it seconded by council member Jeff Berg. The board unanimously approved the motion. Once the proper markers are in place, the council will collectively view the region prior to their next board meeting and further deliberate Dodge’s request.
