County considers reopening the road to JFK

February 11, 2010

Valencia County is looking at ways to reopen the dirt road that leads from Highway 47 to the John F. Kennedy campground in the Manzano Mountains east of Tierra Grande, holding a public hearing on the issue during yesterday’s commission meeting.

The road was closed by a gate and lock in 2008 by a landowner, Ron Chavez of Tome, who claims the road is private. He also claims there was too much vandalism, gang activity, and drunken parties for him to let people continue to cross his land.

“Mr. Chavez closed the road off because of vandalism and property destruction,” said Adren Nance, one of the county’s attorneys.

The county says it obtained the roadway easement through condemnation in the 1960s, he said.

“The way we look at it, Valencia County owns title to that easement,” Nance said.

Both sides admit the county signed a contract guaranteeing public access, but Chavez said the county didn’t fulfill its obligations under the contract. He said the county has never maintained the road and doesn’t include it on its road maintenance inventory.

“We dispute the county’s free claim to title on that easement,” said Gordon Bennett, Chavez’s attorney, adding, “If this road was opened for public access, it would invite vandalism, gang activity, gang hangout, property damage, fires like the Trigo Canyon fire, and respectfully, there are other routes of access to the back country there.”

Chavez said he won’t open the road unless the county and others can guarantee it’ll do certain things, like maintain the road, maintain forest service facilities and have oversight of the campground.

“Is it my responsibility to bear the brunt so people can go have recreation? Or is somebody else responsible?” Chavez asked.

Citizens not only used the area for camping for more than half a century, but they’ve also used it to access trails for horseback riding.

“I’d like it to stay open. I like to take my grand kids over there. I don’t think it’s right to close it down. I really don’t,” said Jim Greer, who’s used the campground since he was a child.

Commissioner Ron Gentry, who represents the area, offered a compromise, saying the county could create a staging area at the locked gate for horseback riders who could then ride to Trigo Canyon.

The idea was welcomed by Chavez, but the two horseback riders at the meeting said they would have a seven-mile ride from the gate to the mountains, which means they wouldn’t have time to ride into the mountains.

“We take care of the mountain. We enjoy the mountain. In the wintertime, it’s the only place we can go and do a trail ride. But now because Mr. Chavez has put a gate and locked it, and denied entrance to anybody, my riding in the wintertime has come to an end,” Paul Smouse, one of the horseback riders who camped at JFK as a child.

The county commission made no decisions, and it was unclear when it might reach a decision on whether or not to reopen the road, which could result in legal action by the county, Chavez or both.

Posted in: Infrastructure