A portion of County Road 246, which serves historic Nichols Cemetery in Oxford, will be closed after Sumter County commissioners voted unanimously Tuesday night to transfer ownership to an adjacent landowner.
Closing the poorly maintained road has been a hard-fought issue since the 1980s, when a pair of lawsuits forced the county to keep it open.
Public access to Nichols Cemetery will remain via the southern portion of the road. The entire road currently connects county roads 246S and 475.
In April, commissioners voted 3-1 to delay action for further study on the road closure suggested by the Hughes family, owners of the 1,500-acre Long Hammock Ranch III. The family owns property on both sides and recently reached an easement agreement with the Watson family, which also owns property along the road.
The Hughes family plans to maintain the road for private access to the ranch.
Commissioner Don Wiley questioned Ocala attorney Robert Batsel, representing the Hughes family, about what benefit the road closure would have for the ranch since it probably would not be a cattle crossing.
Batsel said the road will continue to be used for trucks and other vehicles serving the ranch.
Commissioner Doug Gilpin, who cast the only vote favoring the closure in April, said the county has no plans to maintain or improve the deteriorated road. He also rejected a contention by bicyclists that the road often was used on long rides.
“That doesn’t carry any weight with me,” he said.
Arguing against the road closure, Rodney Blaine Fort of Oxford said land for the road was conveyed to the county “for right of way purposes only” in the deed and that the county no authority to vacate it without returning the property to the Nichols family.
“We have fought over this road mostly all of my life,” he said.
But County Attorney Jennifer Rey said the closure is legal because the deed provides no specific instructions for the land disposition if it is vacated.
In two 1980s lawsuits, the Nichols Cemetery Association was rebuffed in its efforts to close the road and the county was ordered to keep it open.
