Blaze Vandine, property owner on the upper loop of South Canyon Drive in Seeley Lake, had one of his private road signs vandalized Saturday, Sept. 10. A dead skunk was also in his driveway. "I took it as a message," said Vandine.
SEELEY LAKE – When Blaze Vandine purchased land on upper South Canyon Drive 16 years ago he thought he was going to be living on a private road. However since lower South Canyon Drive is not maintained, the upper road is being used as a thru road to access Double Arrow. While not all his neighbors agree that the road should be considered a private road, Vandine asks the public to respect his property and use the lower road.
Vandine's deed of sale reads, "The purchaser and/or owner of the lot of parcel understand and agrees that private road construction, maintenance and snow removals shall be the obligation of the owner . . ." Vandine and his neighbors each contribute $125 per year to maintain the road.
According to Vandine, there was an arrangement made with the landowners and Double Arrow in 1993 that Double Arrow would maintain the road and would use it as a fire exit.
"They [maintained] it one time and that was the end of it but they still have signs pointing to our road saying fire exit," said Vandine. "The Double Arrow has three other roads. Their county taxes don't pay to fix our road."
In 2008, Vandine said that some of his neighbors tried to make it a county road but the initiative failed. The engineer did not realize that the upper part of South Canyon Loop was private.
"The lower part is a county road so they just assume the whole road is. But it's not," said Vandine.
Missoula County Sheriff's Office Sergeant Robert Parcell spoke with the county surveyor about the road ownership.
"He said it is a private road [starting at the top of the hill going to the right]. If Vandine wants to say it is private that is fine. The problem is the other people on the road don't care," said Parcell.
"The private road easement is for people who live on the road and if you have business on the road," said Vandine who counted 500 vehicles driving past his place in less than a week last summer, a significant increase from several years ago.
Vandine started out by talking to people and asking them to go slow by his property. When that did not work, he placed "Private Road - No Trespassing" signs in three locations and posted 10 mile per hour speed limit signs by his place and 25 miles per hour speed limit signs on the rest of the road. This has not gotten people to slow down or stop using the road for thru traffic.
Currently Vandine has been reporting vehicles using the road as a thru road to Sgt. Parcell. Parcell has yet to cite anyone for trespassing. He said he has called those reported and explained that it is a private road and warned them that they could get caught up in a trespassing charge if they continue to use the road.
If all the property owners on the road would agree that it was a private road, they could gate the road or take other measures to keep people off of it. However, not everyone agrees with Vandine.
"I invite anyone from Seeley Lake to use the road," said Curtis Gehrke who has been a resident on South Canyon Drive since 1993. "I don't mind company. I don't care if they come up to sightsee."
Gehrke has not had time to investigate the legalities of the road and whether it is private or public. Regardless, Gehrke doesn't feel that law enforcement should be wasting their time chasing down people who are using the road.
"It's a fire exit for Double Arrow and emergency exit for the ambulance," said Gehrke. "It was plowed as a county road at one time. When [Seeley Lake Estates] was subdivided, the county put in all the culverts and did the road building. But they won't admit to it. It should be a county road because then it could be maintained with a speed limit."
"I live there, this is my home. I bought it for peace and quiet and to enjoy the tranquility of lovely Seeley Lake," said Vandine. "There is no common courtesy any more, no respect for property rights. Driving fast or driving slow, they are trespassing on my property."
"Blaze has done everything he can to show it is a private road [signs with the statute number on both ends of the road and in the middle]," said Parcell. "Is it enforceable? The county attorney is going to have to say that."
Reader Comments(1)
BornAndRaised writes:
The problem is that Mr. Vandine moved to a road 16 years ago that has been used for 40+ years by many people in the neighborhood. In the winter the hill on the far side of South Canyon is virtually impassible due to a sheer ice sheet, so drivers are forced to go on the upper road. Perhaps we could start a community program to help Mr. Vandine find a hobby or some friends. It's got to be an awfully dull life just sitting there counting cars all day.
09/25/2016, 4:47 pm