The owners of the Cole Ranch near Eureka have filed a lawsuit against San Juan County, arguing the county does not own the abandoned Silverton Northern Railroad grade through their property, nor does the county own “alleged County Road 22A.”
The lawsuit, filed on July 24 in San Juan District Court, stems from an August 2006 decision by the county commissioners to reject a request by the owners to modify some of the building envelopes shown on the Cole Ranch Plat.
The county in 2001 had approved a six-lot subdivision on the 37 acres owned by Merlin Schaefer of Gunnison and Sandra Ippolite of Mountain Village. But in 2006, the county claimed it owned the old Saguache-to-Silverton toll road built by Otto Mears, which runs through the property once part of the French Placer.
 The county subsequently claimed it also owned a 200-foot easement based on the abandoned railroad grade, and prohibited Cole Ranch owners from building within that easement.
The lawsuit states that in 2001, Schaefer had “voluntarily agreed not to excavate or alter the Silverton Northern grade, (but) the plat does not purport to grant or reserve any rights over this grade in favor of either San Juan County or the public.”
The lawsuit asks the court to find “that San Juan County has no right to alleged County Road 22A, which does not exist either in law or in fact.”
It also asserts the county has no claim on the abandoned Silverton Northern Railroad, which ceased operations in 1938.
San Juan County Administrator Willie Tookey said he couldn’t comment on the lawsuit. He said the matter is being review by the county’s attorney, Paul Sunderland of Grand Junction.
County Board Chairman Ernie Kuhlman said he wanted to get the dispute resolved one way or another.
Schaefer said Tuesday that the county’s claims to the old railroad grade and what his lawyers described as a “phantom road” are “frivolous, groundless and meritless.
“There is no way the county can make the jump that they own this land,” Schaefer said. “I think this was out of line and off the law from the start and I’ve said that. It has cost me a ton of money to get this settled and now it is going to cost taxpayers a ton of money.”
Schaefer said the county commissioners were “abusing their power.
“They’ve been bullying me is what they’ve been doing,” Schaefer said. “I’ve had five or six lots tied up over there for two years. They know that but there’s no talking to them.”