COLDSPRING — The San Jacinto County Commissioners Court took no action on request from a landowner to replace a gate across a road.
The matter was discussed at the Wednesday regular meeting.
In March, the court approved removal of a gate placed across the road by Leonard and Joyce Scott; the Scotts maintain that the road is not a county road but their own private thoroughfare.
However, according to the county road map, the road in question is county property, and according to County Judge Fritz Faulkner, residents cannot adversely affect public property.
Attorney Eddison Titus, who represents the Scotts, asked if it was possible for the gate to be replaced.
Faulkner said that the county created the map in 2005, then in 2008 held public hearings for residents to dispute distances and whether the road was public or private, and county records do not show that the Scotts ever disputed the map.
Currently, a civil case is pending in district court.
Titus said the Scotts claim they never received any notice regarding the map or public hearings, and the gate was erected as landowners believed the land to be theirs.
Faulkner reiterated that the dispute is now matter for district court; Commissioner Crystal Dominy said she had no interest in changing the vote until that is settled.
“We have a resolution or an order that has been on file for 15 years, and until you go to district court and prove we didn’t do it right 15-20 years ago … we have the county road map,” Faulkner said.
Commissioner Luke Sweeney said that all of the information the county has shows that is a county road, has been a county road and the Scotts have had the opportunity to take it off and none of that was done, whether they got the notice or not.
“There’s a procedure, and that hasn’t happened yet, but they put a gate on it,” Sweeney said. “This is in district court now, and it needs to go through that process.”
In other business, the court:
