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KTMrad

ACTION NEEDED- New Locked Gate on Thing Valley

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Here's the problem.  If you look at the map, the shaded blue area is forest land.  Thing Valley Rd then cuts thru the Southwest corner of the Cuyapaipe Indian Reservation where they have put up the gate and fence.  

IMG_0407.PNG

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That is not good!  Now what is the legality of closing a public road?  Easement rights?

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New member here. I came here specifically to address these things. I cannot offer much advice, but as a rider, I am annoyed. I covered the East County for 20 years as a Registered Process Server, so I had to seek out some very hard-to-find addresses out there. I had to deal with gates on a legal level. Often, I would just park and walk past them. I was immune to trespass while performing my lawful duties. So, at my age, these illegal gates really piss me off. One guy I was after shot and killed someone that came on his semi-gated property in Jamul. He had been hit by copper thieves before, so he was ready to blast away. Be careful. As wrong as these gates are, you don't know what the residents are thinking. It is not fair, it is not legal, but as a dude that has been down many a driveway named as a trail, it's not safe or worth being in the right.

 

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2 minutes ago, Talcire said:

New member here. I came here specifically to address these things. I cannot offer much advice, but as a rider, I am annoyed. I covered the East County for 20 years as a Registered Process Server, so I had to seek out some very hard-to-find addresses out there. I had to deal with gates on a legal level. Often, I would just park and walk past them. I was immune to trespass while performing my lawful duties. So, at my age, these illegal gates really piss me off. One guy I was after shot and killed someone that came on his semi-gated property in Jamul. He had been hit by copper thieves before, so he was ready to blast away. Be careful. As wrong as these gates are, you don't know what the residents are thinking. It is not fair, it is not legal, but as a dude that has been down many a driveway named as a trail, it's not safe or worth being in the right.

 

Nice input yeah been deer hunting and riding in some remote areas in San Diego and according to my GPS maps fair game but have come across more than a couple weird gates or fence lines way off course.

Fyi I think I've been to that property and meet that guy in jamul, bought trailer frame off a guy out there a decade ago that was a massive junk hoarder who's neighbors were forcing him to get rid of acres of junk

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17 hours ago, crfxer said:

Here's the problem.  If you look at the map, the shaded blue area is forest land.  Thing Valley Rd then cuts thru the Southwest corner of the Cuyapaipe Indian Reservation where they have put up the gate and fence.  

IMG_0407.PNG

I've never ridden that area but, it is REALLY unfortunate "they" chose to gate off ~1/4 mi. stretch (1 lap around the track) of the road. Do the gates at each end align with the Reservation boundaries?

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22 hours ago, crfxer said:

Here's the problem.  If you look at the map, the shaded blue area is forest land.  Thing Valley Rd then cuts thru the Southwest corner of the Cuyapaipe Indian Reservation where they have put up the gate and fence.  

IMG_0407.PNG

Actually, it doesn't go across reservation land.  You (meaning y'all) see the black phantom line around the road?  That is private property.  Going onto SANDAG's parcel lookup tool shows this:

parcel.thumb.png.25f4788054f877446bd44766f3ad9d2e.png

The gates noted correspond to the North and South edges of the property.  Looking up the APN on the San Diego County Public Records shows this:

1727802753_propertyAPN.thumb.png.8e4ea6418d4fe4cf71f543938c24006f.png

Note the date.  Clicking through for more detail gives this:

1609601458_propertydetail.thumb.png.750ab79c5e6104f3129278d18493af86.png

Searching for the new owners, there are matching names living in San Diego.  Giving the new owners the benefit of the doubt, they may not know that they don't own the road.  Or maybe they do, and just don't care.  Looking at the satellite view, there is no development on the property.

And yes, SANDAG has it as Morris Ranch Road, and some of the properties give an address of Morris Ranch Road and some as Thing Valley Road.

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Also, this is private property (excepting the road easement), so the Forest Service and BLM probably won't be able to help.  Who does? Sheriff?

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I spoke with the owner. He was a nice guy. He also rides and understood our complaint. He stated he had to gate off the road for liability reasons. I offered to help him in any way to limit the liability and keep it open. If you are out there and by chance run into him and or his family, please be respectful.   Easement / road access will probably be the only avenue. If you know someone schooled in easement law please contact them. 

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If it s in fact an easement then i think the party who has the right to use that easement is the one who can take action (and might be liable for that easement). 

I don't know law but we were in escrow for a prop that had an easement thru a neighbor property, it was a messy situation, easements are complicated. 

Bummer about the trail! 

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I talked to the forestry service they sent the ranger out there to investigate it. Theres been a few complaints already.

😆

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I rode down from the top (Sunrise) yesterday (October 4) and the gate, signs, and bulldozer are all still there. Last time I rode through there was in March. I found a realty website that said the property sold in June. Bummer; I only get out a couple times a year, and that was part of my regular route.

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Someone has title to the easement.The easement is recorded much earlier .

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I happened upon a person with local connections a couple months back and was told that the bulldozer guy purchased the property and has threatened a couple of NF rangers with a firearm.  They are scared to enforce any easements that may exist so he said.  Not sure how accurate that assessment is but I wouldn't be surprised if some armed paranoid freak is going to blast the next hapless rider trying to enjoy the forest.

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55 minutes ago, Jlburgess said:

I happened upon a person with local connections a couple months back and was told that the bulldozer guy purchased the property and has threatened a couple of NF rangers with a firearm.  They are scared to enforce any easements that may exist so he said.  Not sure how accurate that assessment is but I wouldn't be surprised if some armed paranoid freak is going to blast the next hapless rider trying to enjoy the forest.

If that is the case, I guess they aren't too concerned with laws about shooting trespassers.  Perhaps they have something important on their property that they don't want anybody to find out about.

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