Columbus Town Council agreed to move forward with closing a portion of West Miller St. at the request of nearby property owners while the board denied assuming ownership of the road entering the Days Inn.

Council met Feb. 19 and discussed the two requests.

The town received a request to close a portion of West Miller Street from Tommy Walter and Bettina Harwood Melton and Marjorie M. Ramsay and Gail W. Ramsey to close the portion of W. Miller St., situated between Walker St. and Denton St.

The portion requested to be closed has never been constructed or opened and straddles the property line between the Melton and Ramsay properties.

Council discussed the closing saying they had no issues closing the street but did not want the closure to cost the town any money. Council approved a resolution setting a public hearing for its April meeting contingent on the town manager contacting both parties to ensure they will pay associated costs for the closure. The costs would include advertising and recording fees.

Council also discussed adding road closure requests to its fee schedule as well as requests for annexation.

The Days Inn owner also requested that Columbus take over ownership and maintenance of the road entering the hotel. Days Inn owner Pete Bhakta requested that Columbus take over the access road, which also serves a second parcel located behind the Days Inn not owned by Bhakta. Columbus Town Manager Jonathan Kanipe said the road is very short, less than ¼ mile and would not provide a significant increase in funding to the town’s street program through the Powell Bill program. Kanipe also said a cursory look revealed that the road is currently in need of significant repairs, including, but not limited to asphalt resurfacing. Kanipe said town staff did not recommend taking ownership of the street.

Councilman Ricky McCallister said the only thing the town is going to pick up is repairing the street when it needs repaired. Councilwoman Margaret Metcalf said she doesn’t know how the road would benefit the town in anyway.

No council member made a motion to take over the road, so council essentially denied the request.