The dispute over whether French Creek Road is a public or private road has made it to the state Court of Appeals in Spokane. | Image Source: pxhere.com
The dispute over whether French Creek Road is a public or private road has made it to the state Court of Appeals in Spokane. | Image Source: pxhere.com
The dispute over whether French Creek Road is a public or private road has made it to the state Court of Appeals in Spokane.
On 4 separate occasions, county officials ordered the property owners to remove the gates that block access to French Creek Road that they had placed there.
Okanogan County Chief Civil Deputy Prosecutor David Gecas stated that blocking access to a road from the public doesn’t make it private. “Precluding the public’s use with locked gates is not voluntary non-use by the public,” Gecas told Methow Valley News.
“If a private individual can buy a small piece of land with a public road going through it, and gate the road, and drive three miles down the road and buy another piece of private land, and gate the road there, and then wait five years and claim abandonment via non-use, that is adverse possession of public land, not abandonment,” Gecas told Methow Valley News.
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