Garcia Loop county road debate continues

SUPERIOR – A continuing debate came before the Mineral County Commissioners during their weekly meeting as they discussed whether part of Garcia Loop was considered a county road. During the public comment period of the meeting, Mike and Judith Birr came to discuss the maintenance of the road onto their land. They were supposed to appear at the commissioner’s meeting last week but were unable to come. When the Birrs bought the land the road to get onto it belonged to the county and featured a railroad crossing. The railroad later moved the crossing and the original road became inaccessible. A new road, which was not recognized by the county, had to be constructed by the Birrs to get onto the land. When the landowners tried to take out a loan the bank refused because they were living on inaccessible land. They requested the land be declared a county road so the loan could be drawn. Duane Simons, commissioner of the county’s west end, was one of the commissioners at the time and said he remembered the agreement. As he remembered it, they agreed to adopt the road in name only. While it would be considered a county road the county would have no responsibility to maintain it. Simons felt the commissioners were doing the Birrs a favor by making the declaration. Judith disagreed and said she had not seen the county’s adoption of the road as a favor. She argued the road did not belong to her either and anyone could use it freely. When they argued for the road to be adopted by the county the Birrs presented evidence to support the idea it was publically accessible. Judith said she and her husband had spent $20,000 in attorney fees over two years to research the road laws. They also tried to negotiate with the railroad to find a solution. With no evidence to suggest the road was exclusively theirs she felt it was public and therefore belonged to the county. Because of this she thought the county should be responsible for maintaining it. “There was no explanation that made any sense and your county planner had ample opportunity, so did Rail Link, so did BNSF, so did any neighbor around there, to submit evidence that it was not public roadway,” Judith continued. “They didn’t do it, they didn’t do it at all.” Judith felt it was wrong for the county to suddenly stop caring for the road. As she saw it, the county had cared for it for 65 years, during which, several members of her family lived on the land. She felt it was not good for the county to suddenly drop the road after so many years of maintaining access to the land. Judith said she took the county’s refusal to plow the road personally. She felt there was more of a risk of fires on her street. Despite this, the other side got plowed while her road was inaccessible to emergency vehicles. Because the meeting was not on the regular agenda, Laurie Johnston, commissioner of the county’s central area, said they were unable to make a decision. It was also noted the county could only afford to plow so many roads with their budget and may need to abandon more roads in the future. Judith disagreed with this argument, saying the cutoff was very precise and it would not be a significant expense to do their road at the same time as others. Simons said it might help the commissioners understand the situation better if they saw the area in question. Mike and Judith said it was hard for them to get work off at the same time. It was also a big sacrifice for them to take the time off to go to a meeting. Because of the challenges in arranging everyone’s schedules, it was suggested the commissioners and the Birrs discuss the issue more over the phone. This way, anyone who could not make it in person could still be involved. The commissioners and the Birrs agreed to schedule a more official meeting to discuss the issue in the future. In the meantime, the commissioners plan to do more research into the issue to figure out all the options and concerns.