SOUTH PITTSBURG, Tenn. - When the South Pittsburg City Commission voted unanimously on first reading to abandon the town's right-of-way along Ash Avenue in November, it was done with three outgoing board members.
Three new commissioners joined the board in December, including Mayor Virgil Holder, and now the second and final reading and vote on Ordinance 773 is on hold.
"Upon hearing the information that was presented at the last meeting and me looking into it, we didn't get all the information," Holder said.
He asked the board to table a vote on the ordinance's second reading for further study.
Ash Avenue runs parallel to U.S. Highway 72 behind an industrial area in downtown South Pittsburg.
Lodge Manufacturing Co., which has a multimillion-dollar expansion project underway nearby, asked the city to abandon its rights to the seldom-used, one-lane road.
Former City Administrator Sammy Burrows said in November the latest survey on record indicates the road actually belongs to Lodge, and the only reason the city is involved is because Ash Avenue has been "established for so long."
"Lodge is trying to be a good neighbor," Burrows said last month.
Henry Lodge, president at Lodge Manufacturing Co. said the expansion project has "kind of been working around [the road] at the moment," and that his company is "willing to do whatever the city wishes on that property."
South Pittsburg's planning commission recommended closing the road permanently in June.
Holder said he has spoken with utility companies and has been examining the history of "giving up right-of-ways."
"I do not feel like I've had time, and I don't know if the board has had time, to really research this," he said.
Holder said he "totally understands" one of the reasons Lodge made the request was safety, so he ordered the road temporarily closed "until this is resolved" and while construction on the expansion is ongoing.
Ryan Lewis is based in Marion County. Contact him at ryanlewis34@gmail.com.