Property Rights

The San Francisco Chronicle reports:

Above the San Geronimo Valley, a shimmering pastoral getaway in western Marin County, there is a fire road with panoramic views of the rolling, golden countryside.

It has been used by hikers and horseback riders for the better part of a century and, in more recent times, by cyclists. The trail, known as the Dickson Ridge or Barnabe Mountain fire road, depending on where you are on it, is a crucial link in a continuous public path to the Pacific Ocean.

But the seemingly peaceful trail is now at the center of a furious battle over public access, pitting trail users and county officials against a couple whose property includes a quarter-mile section of the fire road.

The couple, David Mease and Catherine Salah, bought the property in 1999 intending to build a winery and their dream house. They didn't particularly like the idea of horses and humans tromping through their private Shangri-la.

Users of the trail reacted angrily when "No Trespassing" signs began cropping up, and confrontations began between Mease and the horseback riders who regularly used the road. Angry equestrians and other trail users soon showed up at county planning department hearings to protest Mease's application for a home.

Private rights aren't respected by everyone.