By Taylor Boyd
State Sen. Bill Stanley encouraged compromise between supporters and opponents of the proposed Dogwood Road closure during a May 7 community meeting attended by more than 70 people at Stella Christian Church.
The proposed closure involves a 0.06-mile section of Dogwood Road in front of Hardin Reynolds Memorial School.
School Board Chairman Amy Walker, of the Mayo River District, said the Virginia Department of Transportation approached the school division about abandoning the section of road “free of charge.”
The school board approved a request in June asking the Patrick County Board of Supervisors to consider beginning the abandonment process. Supervisors approved the road closure request at their Sept. 8 meeting.
Stanley, R-Moneta, questioned whether the road meets the legal standard required for discontinuance.
“The law says it must be deemed and determined to be no longer serving the public convenience or warranting any maintenance,” Stanley said.
After walking the road before the meeting, Stanley said he was not convinced the roadway had lost its public purpose.
“I understand the safety because children are our greatest natural resource and we need to be providing that safety for them at all times,” he said. “I looked at that, and thought how many children crossed over to the gym over so many years, so many thousands.”
Stanley said every vehicle he observed slowed down while traveling through the area.
“One stopped completely in the middle of the road thinking we were going to walk across,” he said.
He also cautioned that if the road is discontinued and later reopened, responsibility for bringing it back up to state standards would fall to the county.
“Getting that road back up to state road maintenance on 2026, or 2030 standards, would be almost a hill high to climb,” Stanley said.
Instead of closing the roadway, Stanley suggested installing stop signs near the school entrance.
“Guess what? It’s really cheap, it’s two metal poles, two of them red signs, and if you really want to get fancy, make them blink,” he said.
Stanley said he believes the best answer is the easiest answer, and a less intrusive approach could improve safety while preserving the roadway for public use.
“It’s less intrusive by government and yet preserves what we have and keeps the kids safe walking across there,” he said. “I think that is a solution that we can have that solves the problem that the school board has brought to this board of supervisors.
“It maintains an understanding with the community that this is not a road that requires us to believe it no longer serves public need, because I think it does. You wouldn’t be here if you didn’t believe that this road serves a public convenience, and yet make sure that we’re protecting the children,” he said.
He also suggested traffic cameras could be installed if additional enforcement is needed.
“I don’t like Big Brother involved, but you can put cameras in there as well that can catch those people who might run those red lights,” Stanley said.
If the stop signs and cameras don’t work, Stanley said residents and the board can again discuss the situation and potential solutions.
“I think we can all get around that idea, and probably agree to it,” Stanley said, and reiterated that while walking the road, “I didn’t see one speeder, not one person came tearing around that road.”
Richard Cox, Interim Supervisor of the Smith River District, said he attended the meeting to listen and gather information after getting background information from the school division.
“I’ve got some preliminary conclusions, but I’m still open. My being here tonight is no indication of how, should this matter come up before the board of supervisors, I would vote on it,” Cox said. “If we are called upon to take action, it’s going to be based on fact, not fantasy.”
Cox said child safety remains the primary concern.
“I’ve heard a lot of items in some of my talks the word inconvenience, and it has no place in this discussion. If inconvenience means that we save a life, then inconvenience goes by the wayside,” he said.
At the same time, Cox said residents’ concerns should not be ignored.
He also said he had not found records of any accidents involving schoolchildren on Dogwood Road in front of the school.
“I have not been able to find any accident involving a school child along Dogwood that’s in front of the school,” Cox said, but noted there are reports of traffic accidents that occurred on Abram Penn Highway.
Clayton Kendrick, vice chairman of the board and of the Mayo River District, said the possibility of closing the portion of road first surfaced about a decade ago.
“The people were wound up enough then that it didn’t get closed,” Kendrick said.
With the discussion resurfacing last year, he noted improvements have since been made to visibility in the area, including the removal of a building that blocked part of the line of sight.
“Now, other than the kudzu vines growing up on a light pole that needs to be cleaned off, it’s a good sight distance that way,” he said.
Kendrick said most residents he has spoken with oppose closing the road. The few that want it closed have ties to the school system.
“I don’t think it needs to be closed. I think other safety measures need to be added there,” he said.
