SAN ANGELO, Texas — Citizens who regularly use Mineral Wells Crossing, located near Christoval, are once again voicing their concerns.
The low water crossing is not the only way in and out of the neighborhood, but after a new landowner closed access to nearby Kenley Lane, it has become the road residents are forced to use. When the crossing floods, it cuts people off from their family members. And with temperatures dropping, citizens of the neighborhood are concerned that the problems will only worsen with the increasing chances of the bridge freezing over.
"With the current blockage in emergency situations, whether that’s ice or flood, having a gate across our exit, the county road exit that’s there is dangerous," Colton Conner, an area resident, said.
"It’s scary. Especially with children."
The reluctant use of eminent domain was concerned by a few of the residents, but after research and efforts by Conner, it may not be a problem much longer.
"Eminent domain isn’t what anybody out here wants. We’re all landowners. We wouldn’t want anybody to come and take our land," he said.
Conner, who works in real estate, then took to the records. He found what he believes to be clerical issue which mislabeled parts of Kenley Lane as public and private.
"And so, researching further, I presented it to the county and found out that we don’t have to. That road has always been a county road."