As of January, the new road allowance had been approved. The old road that went along the Stuart�s land down to the horshoe bend has gotten closed off. Only half of this road is on the road allowance. Previously Tim Ruggles had allowed people to use this access. With the land changing hands, this option has been removed. The new road allowance comes down to the horseshoe bend from the south. There is large hill that needs leveled off for vehicle access. The county expected that this would cost $30 000 to $40 000.
Some well informed individuals thought that this cost was overly high. Various reasons for this high estimate have been tossed around. One view is that some individuals may not truly want access to the river to go ahead. Another view is that the hill will take a sizable amount of work to level off.
Tim Ruggles owns an earth mover and figured that the hill could get leveled off privately, greatly reducing the work costs. Chuck Lee apparently has a number of grant proposals ready to sign. I believe our club is also willing to contribute some funds to ensure this project proceeds. A few acres of land at the Put-In is going to be donated to the county by Randy Stuart. This will serve as parking and picnic areas.
I believe we just need to convince the county of the continued importance of this access. Currently there is no legal access to the Upper Saint Mary�s.
Here is an image of the access
