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County commissioners unanimously voted to close a portion of the end of Point Road last week.

The request was made by the Three Rivers Land Trust, which owns land on both sides of the .9 mile section of road requested for closure.

The board heard from Land Trust supporters, and from local landowners.

Travis Morehead, executive director of the land trust, cited safety and trespassing as the reasons for the request. “We’ve suffered trespass … and folks go down there and do what they shouldn’t be doing,” he said. “It’s private property protection.”

The Department of Transportion has already abandoned maintenance of that portion of the road, the latest action is to abandon rights of way, he said.

Roger Laudy said his property is the closest to the Land Trust. “They’re asking to move problems they might have closer to my house.” He also expressed concerns that the turn-around at the end of the road isn’t large enough for a large truck to turn around.

He also expressed concerns about giving the property away when it was paid for with taxpayer money.

“The neighbors on Point Road, there’s no benefit to us,” he said. “We don’t think it’s right to give away state property.”

Mike Morton, a Three Rivers member who hunts on the property, supports closing of the road.

He helps with youth hunts there, and said sometimes they can hear a vehicle on the road and aren’t sure who it is or where they are getting out of the vehicle. He and his son were once confronted by someone not from the Land Trust demanding to know who they were and why they were on the property. Closing the end of the road would make that less likely to happen, he said.