Locally grown, internationally known
When county roads are closed at the request of a property owner, the county code sets out ways for the county to be compensated for the value of the road.
But the Okanogan County code, which lists three categories of roads and multiples scenarios for …
To people accustomed to traveling on the main highways of Okanogan County, roads to upper Texas Creek, French Creek, Brewster and the Chiliwist can seem far apart.
But these areas are actually all connected via old back roads that span the hills between the Methow …
A gate closing Three Devils Road to the public was vandalized a week after it was installed, after a court decision ended public access to the road. Jon Wyss, a member of the Gebbers Family, reported damage to the gate and theft of a sign to Okanogan County Sheriff’s Deputy Jodie Barcus on Aug. 11. […]
The Washington State Supreme Court has denied a request to review a challenge to the closure of Three Devils Road, ending the lawsuit and allowing 3 miles of the remote road to be gated. The gated section traverses land owned by Gamble Land and Timber, which petitioned Okanogan County in 2015 to vacate the road to protect its adjacent property …
The Washington Supreme Court is still evaluating an April request from a citizens’ group to hear a lawsuit about whether the Okanogan County commissioners had the right to close a remote road in the Chiliwist.
This week the court agreed to consider …
The Chiliwist residents who have been fighting to keep Three Devils Road open to the public have asked the state Supreme Court to hear their case.
The Chiliwist Residents and Friends assert that lower courts used incorrect legal standards and precedents to assess whether the Okanogan County commissioners’ decision to close Three Devils …
Over the past 15 years, people who live on Okanogan County’s back roads started noticing that routes they used to visit friends, hunt or ride horses were being closed one by one.
In some cases, the roads had been blocked by gates, but in others, the road closures involved official …
The Okanogan County commissioners had the authority to close Three Devils Road to the public at the request of adjacent landowner Gamble Land and Timber, the Washington Court of Appeals has ruled.
Moreover, discussions between the commissioners and representatives of the company were a normal part of county business and not evidence of collusion, the court found.
Appeals court hears challenge to road closure By Marcy Stamper On the face of it, the Three Devils Road legal dispute appears to pit the public’s right to use a primitive road to reach public land, or to escape from a wildfire, against the adjacent property owner’s right to protect its property from vandalism or […]
Okanogan County is considering vacating 11 roads — about 36 miles — as the Public Works staff attempts to reconcile decades-old maps and road logs with actual roads on the ground.
Five of the roads are in the Methow Valley and Brewster areas; others are near …
