Developer Denied In Bid To Build New Yosemite Access Road

YOSEMITE (CBS/AP) - A federal appeals court has sided with environmentalists and ruled a California developer cannot build a new road into Yosemite National Park.

The 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in San Francisco says Solvang developer Lewis Geyser does not have the rights to two stage coach era dirt roads connecting his property to Yosemite.

Old Coulterville Road and Crane Flat Road go roughly from the town of Coulterville in Mariposa County through Geyser's 83-acre Hazel Green property. The roads connect with Highway 120 near Crane Flat in Yosemite National Park.

Geyser wanted Yosemite to give him an easement over a quarter-mile section of park property between his land and Highway 120. But the park refused, leading to a 2007 lawsuit claiming he had a legal right to the now-unused dirt roads under various easement laws.

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