PROVO -- Utah County Engineer Clyde Naylor asked the county commissioners Tuesday to ignore a request made earlier involving the closure of the left fork of West Canyon Road west of Lehi and north of Cedar Fort.
Naylor said the information given to him by landowners in the area has proven to be incorrect.He said originally he believed only private property owners would be affected by closing the road, but in reality, at least three pieces of land owned by the federal government and the state of Utah would be affected adversely if the road were to be closed to the public.
The West Canyon Road has been gated for the past 15 years at the main entrance of the road beyond the fork by property owners who have land along the road, Naylor said, even though the road is a Class D county byway.
Deputy Utah County Attorney Kent Sundberg said the residents who put up the gate have not had the legal right to do so.
"They really shouldn't have a gate there. A gate cannot exist on a county road," he said.
After withdrawing the request for closure for the road Tuesday, Naylor said he intends to write a letter back to those who initiated the request and inform them of the need to open or remove the gate.
"They can't have it both ways. They can't have the gate and can't have the road vacated without all agreeing. Without the state agreeing to closure, there's no way (to get a road vacated)," he said.
Gary Bagley, representing the Trust Lands Administration, attended a hearing on Dec. 1 to protest the proposed closure. Bagley said there are several pieces of trust lands accessed by the West Canyon Road.
"We do recognize the problems involved with public access," Bagley said, "but we want to be involved in the process if you're looking at closing it."
Bagley said over the past decade the road has been gated and locked, but his department had always been issued a key until just recently.
"Now they've even locked the state out," he said. "We want access to the trust lands."