VIENNA — Maries Road 306, its hammerhead turnaround and the boat ramp at the end of the road are public land, according to the Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law and Judgment filed by Judge John Beger on Jan. 9. The parking lot at the end of the road is private property.

The ruling comes after a petition filed by Maries County landowners Eugene and Jacqueline Appel asked the court to rule on the public or private nature of the spot, which is known locally as the Fish Hollow Access. The access to the Gasconade River took its name from the Fish Hollow Fishing and Hunting Club, which had a 99-year lease on the property that ended in 2021. At the conclusion of the lease, the landowners informed the club’s only surviving member that they did not intend to renew the lease. The court petition followed shortly after the lease’s end.

The Maries County Commissioners were the petition’s respondents. They believed the access was public. The petition went to a bench trial last October that featured testimony from several local people who had used the access for years without permission from the landowners or the Fish Hollow Fishing and Hunting Club.

Following the trial, each party’s attorney filed a document of proposed findings and conclusions to the court. The court’s judgment uses many of the same points as the documents by the petitioners and respondents.

“We have received (the order),” David Bandre, attorney for the petitioners, said during a Jan. 11 phone call. “We’re in the process of reviewing it. I think the judge did a good job in reviewing the evidence. We’ll make a determination into what the next step is moving forward.”

Tony Skouby, attorney for the respondents, said he viewed the court order as a victory for several groups of people beyond the county commission.

“All in all, it’s a big win for the citizens of Maries County,” he said. “A big win for conservation. A big win for sportsmen. I consider it an honor to have been able to defend the public in Maries County to prevent the further loss of our recreational accesses.”

Skouby added that he did not anticipate people visiting the access would have trouble finding a place to park because the county can widen the road to encompass up to 30 feet in width.

The general rule for appeals in Missouri courts requires that parties submit a notice of appeal within 10 days of when a judgment becomes final. Friday is the 10th day.

The findings of fact consist of 25 points determined by the court through the evidence presented by the two parties. The first several points detail the background of the case. The petitioners are the Appels, who reside in St. Louis and serve as the appointed Trustees of the Eugene and Jacqueline Appel Revocable Living Trust, which owns real estate and pays taxes in Maries County. The Appels purchased real estate in the county in 1978. The respondents are the elected members of the Maries County Commission, who responded to the petition by claiming that the access was public land served by a county road. The court has jurisdiction over the case because the land in question is in Maries County. The property abuts the Gasconade River and contains what local people call the Fish Hollow Access located at Mile Marker 191.6 of the navigable waterway. Maries Road 306 extends about 550 feet onto the property past a cattle guard. A 0.379-mile gravel roadway connects Maries Road 306 to the Gasconade River and Fish Hollow Access. At the end of the road, there is a gravel parking area and a gravel boat ramp that comprise the access.

Other findings of fact describe the lease between the Fish Hollow Fishing and Hunting Club and the landowners at the time of its signing in 1923, Edward and Mamie Picker. The lease gave club members and their guests “free ingress and egress to the leased premises” from Sept. 15, 1922 to Sept. 15, 2021. The lease came with no obligation for the lessee to maintain or improve the road. It also did not provide the club with exclusive access to the road or boat ramp.

The findings of fact also address testimony from the trial. Five members of the public testified that Fish Hollow, including the road, parking area and boat ramp, had been used continuously for a variety of leisure activities since at least the 1950s. A now-defunct Special Road District applied gravel to the road, parking lot and ramp. In the 2000s, Maries County, at the request of Eastern District Commissioner Doug Drewel, began placing rock on the road, parking area and ramp one or two times each year and grading the road three to five times per year. In 2009, Maries County added the 0.379 miles of road extending to the access into its inventory for state County Aid Road Trust (CART) funds. Eugene Appel and Myron Rollins, the sole surviving member of the Fish Hollow Fishing and Hunting Club testified that “no trespassing” signs were displayed at the road but no further efforts were made to limit or block the public use of the road or access.

The 22nd finding of fact states Missouri Revised Statute Section 228.190 pertaining to roads legally established when deemed abandoned or when deemed public county roads. No evidence presented showed an order of the county commission declaring the 0.379 miles of road public, but the county had received CART funds for it for more than five years, which is another way the statute determines a road is public. Members of the public used the road, parking area and boat ramp for more than 10 years, “if not generations,” according to the findings of fact.

The conclusions of law cite how earlier cases set legal precedents relevant to this case. The first conclusion cites Pauls v. County Com’n of Wayne County, which explains the requirements to establish a≠≠≠ public road. The case determined that it is sufficient to show that expenditure on a road began and continued from time to time for a 10-year period and was sufficient to maintain the road for public travel. The public nature of a road is determined by the extent of the right to use it. Skinner v. Osage County explains that if the use of a roadway “is free and common to all citizens, and that the public has actual access to it,” then a road is public.

Conran v. Girvin states that the State of Missouri owns the beds of navigable streams and property owners adjacent to the river own title to the low water mark of the shore.

In the case of Fish Hollow, both the petitioners and the respondents acknowledged that the Gasconade River is navigable. The road ends at the boat ramp/river access, which is the transition to the public highway of the river. The road is used by vehicles and must feature a way for land vehicles to turn around, including road repair and maintenance equipment. However, state statute 228.190 does not include parking areas. Maries County has applied gravel to and bladed the 0.379 miles of road for more than 10 years. The county has also placed gravel and graded the parking area, its hammerhead and the boat ramp. Usage of the parking area, hammerhead and boat ramp during the 99-year lease were subject to the lease’s terms and the state statute does not apply to the parking area. Out of necessity, the hammerhead turnaround is included in the public use of the road. The boat ramp is also included because it provides a transition between the public use of the road and the public highway river.

In addition to the ruling that the road, turnaround and ramp are public and the parking lot is private, the judgment says the petitioners may block access to the parking area. The Maries County Commission is solely responsible for the care, maintenance and control of the county road, including the hammerhead and the ramp. The commission must prepare and provide to the court a survey of the roadway from the cattle guard to the river within 120 days of the order. The judgment remains open until the legal description is prepared and added to Exhibit 1. Each party is responsible for their attorney fees.