Mining company appeals
goldfields access ruling
Sac Bee Excloo
MARYSVILLE 8/27/02 (YSN) - The surface mining company battling to keep people out of the Yuba goldfields has asked the state Supreme Court to review lower court rulings that a road through the manmade moonscape is open to public traffic, court records showed Tuesday.
Last month the 3rd District Court of Appeals sustained a Yuba County judge's decision that Hammonton Road was a county road and should be open for public traffic.
Western Aggregates Inc. controls much of the 10,000-acre compound through a web of federal leases. It argued that the public had abandoned any rights to the road by disuse. Hammonton Road began as a stagecoach route some 150 years ago.
In a 46-page ruling the three-member appeals panel unanimously rejected the argument on the grounds that disuse occurred because of dredging activities by Western Aggregates and predecessor mining companies.
Despite "dredging and so forth, a public access road was always to be provided by Western's predecessors," the appeals court ruling stated. The state court returned the case to the county trial judge, instructing him to work out where the road should be recreated.
Western Aggregates subsequently asked the appeals court to reconsider the issue, but the justices declined to do so, leading the company to file a petition for review with the state Supreme Court Monday.
Members of the Yuba Goldfields Access Coalition celebrated the appeals court ruling with a walk down Hammonton Road in defiance of no trespassing signs. Others have cautioned the public not to think all legal issues have been settled in the goldfields.
Yuba County Supervisor Bill Simmons, who generally supported Western Aggregates' point of view, noted that some private property rights in areas of the goldfields where the new road might pass still remain.
$ox
goldfields access ruling
Sac Bee Excloo
MARYSVILLE 8/27/02 (YSN) - The surface mining company battling to keep people out of the Yuba goldfields has asked the state Supreme Court to review lower court rulings that a road through the manmade moonscape is open to public traffic, court records showed Tuesday.
Last month the 3rd District Court of Appeals sustained a Yuba County judge's decision that Hammonton Road was a county road and should be open for public traffic.
Western Aggregates Inc. controls much of the 10,000-acre compound through a web of federal leases. It argued that the public had abandoned any rights to the road by disuse. Hammonton Road began as a stagecoach route some 150 years ago.
In a 46-page ruling the three-member appeals panel unanimously rejected the argument on the grounds that disuse occurred because of dredging activities by Western Aggregates and predecessor mining companies.
Despite "dredging and so forth, a public access road was always to be provided by Western's predecessors," the appeals court ruling stated. The state court returned the case to the county trial judge, instructing him to work out where the road should be recreated.
Western Aggregates subsequently asked the appeals court to reconsider the issue, but the justices declined to do so, leading the company to file a petition for review with the state Supreme Court Monday.
Members of the Yuba Goldfields Access Coalition celebrated the appeals court ruling with a walk down Hammonton Road in defiance of no trespassing signs. Others have cautioned the public not to think all legal issues have been settled in the goldfields.
Yuba County Supervisor Bill Simmons, who generally supported Western Aggregates' point of view, noted that some private property rights in areas of the goldfields where the new road might pass still remain.
$ox
<< Home