Should the private road leading through Dragoon Mountain Ranch become a public easement? Why or why not?

Not trying to start a keyboard war here, just interested in knowing the opinions of local climbers. What do you think?

Their ranch, their road. Private means you stay off of it. Now if you buy it you can open it up to public access.                                                                                                                           .                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                

Not a local climber, but for it to become public road either owners need to allow that to happen or one needs to sue for a prescriptive easement. To establish a prescriptive easement requires open, notorious, hostile and continuous use of the land for a ten-year period.

No new access, just a shorter drive. 

so what would the argument be to exercise eminent domain? Cuz that’s what you are talking about, taking private land?

A shorter drive.  Give me a break.  Leave the landowner alone.

Creating an easement is not the same thing as "taking private land", there is a precedent for turning private roads into public easements in the US. Although I do think it would be quite challenging to get all landowners in DMR to agree to an easement. Many climbers that do not own land in the Ranch pass through DMR without incident already, it's just a matter of getting the HOA to vote that the access road be turned into a public easement. 

TJ Aguilera wrote:

Creating an easement is not the same thing as "taking private land", there is a precedent for turning private roads into public easements in the US. Although I do think it would be quite challenging to get all landowners in DMR to agree to an easement. Many climbers that do not own land in the Ranch pass through DMR without incident already, it's just a matter of getting the HOA to vote that the access road be turned into a public easement. 

So then the phrase "entitled climber" would be you or merely lazy or trying to reduce your carbon footprint?

Steve Williams wrote:

A shorter drive.  Give me a break.  Leave the landowner alone.

There is a prescriptive easement case where a person utilized a private parcel to access their property because it was a shorter drive than driving around. The owner of the private parcel decided to close off the access so to develop the land. In court the private parcel owner noted the person could drive around so they had access to their property. The court said it did not matter because the person crossing the private parcel had met the standard for a prescriptive easement. Such cases are quite interesting.

I own property in DMR and sit on the Foothills board in DMR. Marcy and I are building our home near the Forest Service gate. I am writing as a climber and a soon-to-be full-time resident in DMR. 

Passing through DMR only shortens the drive time to the trailheads for select formations deep in the west Stronghold. These formations can be accessed, as always, via Middlemarch Road as described on MP. To be honest, I initially discovered DMR by passing through it a small number of times before I became an owner. Marcy and I decided to invest in the community by purchasing a lot, getting to know our new neighbors, volunteering to serve on the board, and now building our home there. 

In case it is unclear, to go through you need to be a property owner or a guest visiting one. For example, there are several families who reside in DMR that regularly have guests that go climbing. These guests have always been welcome. People who obtain the gate code and use it to transit DMR whenever they feel like it are not. There is a growing awareness of this problem, and if climbers fail to respect private property and go through the proper channels, any owner can act. The boards will act as they see fit.

TJ, there are five boards representing the owners of ~400 lots, all of whom bought their property knowing it was a private, gated community. Even if it did not require the revision of each board's governing documents, I think <1% of owners would approve a public easement to shorten your drive to go rock climbing. So it’s probably best for you to drive around, be a guest of an owner, or purchase your own lot.

Anyone with questions about climbing and the ranch is welcome to reach out to me through the forum (or to call if you have my number).

I know for a fact Mr. Geir used to take photos of the FS padlock every trip he made to the end of the road. Eventually he used probability to hack it. 

All hail king of the West Stronghold!