County Drops Appeal of Ruling in Borel Road Lawsuit

Riverside County has dropped its appeal of a Superior Court judge's January ruling that a portion of Borel Road near French Valley Airport in unincorporated Murrieta be reopened.

The unpaved section of Borel Road—named for a farming family that pioneered southwest Riverside County—had been gated off since 2010, according to a transcript of the lawsuit.

The closed section was part of a "realignment" of Borel Road after the Borel family received $2 million from the county for land necessary to extend the runway at French Valley Airport. The runway was completed in 2005.

When the road was gated off in 2010, members of the Borel family who still live in the area and their neighbors took alternate routes when traveling into Temecula and Murrieta, such as Auld Road near

The Borels filed a lawsuit against the county in June 2011, requesting the road be reopened so public access to Murrieta Hot Springs Road via Sky Canyon Road could resume.

"We were acting on behalf of the public because it is a public road," said Annie Borel, one of three members of the Borel family who brought the civil action against the county.

"I really want to continue to work with the county," Borel said. "We donated land for the courthouse and the airport, which shows how we have worked with the county all along."

Though the chain link gate was rolled back in March following Riverside Superior Court Judge Pamela Thatcher’s decision, an attorney for the county filed an appeal in April, according to court records.

The appeal was dropped Aug. 7, records showed.

Prior to that, Deputy County Attorney Anita Willis defended the closure of the road, saying it was not "public," according to the transcript.

Willis told the judge that when the portion of the road was relocated, it fell out of the county's Transportation Department's jurisdiction as a maintained road. It became part of the territory managed by the airport.

The Riverside County Board of Supervisors owns and operates the airport, and the county’s Economic Development Department manages it, Willis explained.

The realigned section of the road fell out of the county Transportation Department’s jurisdiction, she said, and become part of the airport territory.

"...Because airport staff and other staff were not knowledgeable or connected with the Transportation Department, who don't understand whether it is a public road or not a public road, it doesn't make it a public road."

Rick Friess, an Irvine-based attorney hired by the Borels, contended the county did not go through the proper procedures before closing the road.

“So we got a public road that was relocated. And once you have a public road that's relocated, it is necessary, if you're going to close that —if the County is going to close a public road—to go through the required procedures,” Friess told the judge.

“And the required procedures are set forth in the California Vacation Law. They require notices and postings, and ultimately an action by the Board of Supervisors,” Friess continued.

“We have no action by the Board of Supervisors closing Borel Road. Unless and until the County Board of Supervisors takes an action through the vacation procedures to close Borel Road, it needs to stay open as an open road so that the public can continue to have access,” Friess said.

When asked by the judge, Willis said she was unable to locate records of the county going through a vacation procedure for the road.

Thatcher ruled that the county's action in closing the portion of the realigned Borel and the installing of locked gates constituted an “illegal and improper de facto vacation of a public street” in violation of the Vacation Law and correlating government code.

It was also determined the county was responsible for maintaining the road.

The Borels were awarded $96,000 in attorney fees.

Friess said that in his opinion, the county closed the road to appease new FAA regulations regarding extra space near airports.

"This puts it on the county to do it the right way," Friess said.