By Conrad Dudderar
Staff Writer
To prepare for a new rural housing development, Canadian County has renamed sections of a road northwest of Yukon.
Canadian County Commissioners, at their final meeting of 2022, voted 3-0 to approve a resolution “authorizing changing the name North Richland Road to Schien Road and N.W. 129th Street for 9-1-1 addressing purposes.”
Stretches of Richland Road in Canadian County District 1 are officially being renamed before construction of new homes by Craig Brothers Development, LLC.
Craig Brothers bought 160 acres in the Richland community with plans to build houses on five- and 10-acre tracts on the front half of the site.
District 1 Commissioner Marc Hader suggested N Richland Road in this area be renamed Schien Road and N.W. 129th before street addresses are assigned to newly built homes in the development.
“As that area starts to develop in the future – maybe not now, but 20 years from now – there might be 20 houses in that area,” Hader said Dec. 28 during his final meeting as District 1 commissioner.
Hader recommended the north-south stretch be officially named Schien Road.
“There’s not a house built yet,” he said. “We’re catching this just in time.
“I think it’s a wise move.”
The Canadian County Assessor’s Office mailed letters to notify surrounding property owners about the proposed street name changes.
“We didn’t receive any feedback from any of the residents,” Canadian County Assessor Matt Wehmuller told commissioners.
BACK IN THE DAY
Hader provided some background about this part of Richland.
More than a century ago, a bridge collapsed on what is now Richland Road between the area of Memorial Road and Hefner Road.
“It was big enough of a ravine that they chose not to rebuild,” Hader shared.
In the 1920s, property owners sold four, 33-foot-wide strips of land to Canadian County for $200-$300 each.
“All I can assume is, back in the day, was that was meant to be a potential ‘alternate’ route for traffic in the area,” Hader explained.
The parcels were only 33-feet wide because this was during the “horse-and-buggy” days.
Canadian County kept and maintained the drive for many decades to provide farmers access to their properties.
This fall, Craig Brothers Development agreed to give $55,790.04 to District 1 to cover the cost of oil and chip materials for a paving project on what is known as Schien Road.
“We’ve made the best road we can make in that 33-foot area,” Hader said. “It’s always been called by locals ‘Schien Road’ because that was one of the family names of the farmers in the area.”
However, that section of access road was identified as “Richland Road” on Google Maps.
Canadian County Commissioners previously approved a petition to annex the unincorporated land into the Green Valley Rural Water District to provide water to the new development.
IN OTHER BUSINESS
Among business items approved at the Dec. 28th commissioners’ meeting were:
- Acknowledging designation of Jennifer Schweitzer and Jill Ray as requisitioning officers and Allen Arnold and Gabriel Spruill as receiving officers for the Canadian County Election Board.
- Authorizing Canadian County Children’s Justice Center Director Melanie Johnson to obligate Fort Reno Adolescent Center as a business entity for licensing purposes with the state Department of Human Services.
- An agreement with Consumer Textile Corporation for rental of cleaning supplies for the Free Fair department.
- Disposing of county equipment for the Sheriff’s department – 22 personal computers, two printers and a copier.
Canadian County Undersheriff Kevin Ward presented the weekly jail report showing 201 inmates in custody, with 168 prisoners at the El Reno detention center and 33 housed in other counties.
