Request By:
Hon. James Bates
Knott County Attorney
Box 404
Hindman, Kentucky 41822
Opinion
Opinion By: Robert F. Stephens, Attorney General; By: Elizabeth E. Blackford, Assistant Attorney General
You posed a situation in which the County holds the deed to the right-of-way to a subdivision. Several people own lots in the subdivision and plan to build homes there, though they have not yet done so. You asked whether the County may legally build a road which goes only to this subdivision. Assuming the area on which the road is to be built lies within the County, but not within the city limits, the County, through the Fiscal Court, may build such a road.
Under KRS 178.115 the fiscal court of the county is given broad powers to open, establish or alter the location of any public road, street or alley by adopting a resolution setting forth the necessity for such a road, and by adopting it as a county road. There is no requirement that the road be a throughway or that it give access to more than one area.
The fiscal court has the power to construct and maintain hard surface county roads. See KRS 178.160. By virtue of KRS 67.080(1) and (9) the fiscal court has the power to appropriate funds to pay for the construction and maintenance of county roads. Therefore, the County, through the Fiscal Court, may build the road leading to the subdivision if it will lie in the county, but not within the city boundaries.