AN EASIER WAY OUT RESIDENTS SUE FOR USE OF ROUTE.

Byline: ALEX DOBUZINSKIS Staff Writer

AGUA DULCE -- All they want is an easy way out.

But for 14 households strung along Briggs Road, a remote dirt road through picturesque canyons a few miles south of Vasquez Rocks, accessing civilization has become a daily challenge.

For years, residents of this close-knit community could drive over the Metrolink tracks and across a makeshift bridge over the Santa Clara River to get to Soledad Canyon Road. They used the same half-mile route to come home after work.

But the new owner of the property along Soledad Canyon Road has blocked access to the Briggs Road residents. Instead, residents now have to use a 3 1/2-mile back route that also cuts through private land, twisting and turning over rocky terrain.

Some residents have sued Rancho Agua Dulce LLC, the owner of the Soledad Canyon property, arguing that they should be allowed to use the same route they had used for years.

``I have a couple of horses, a couple of dogs -- I just want to be out away from the city,'' said resident Charles Gillingham, 51, who works as a construction inspector and is lead plaintiff in the lawsuit.

Residents say their community was settled about 1930, when a family received a land grant in the area under the Homestead Act. The 1862 act was a federal initiative to populate the West by giving away land in open country.

To this day, the area still looks like something out of a Western movie. A giant rock formation called the ``Three Sisters'' looms on the horizon, surrounded by miles of canyons and jutting rocks.

Residents live in modest homes on plots of land anywhere from 4acres to more than 100 acres, with telephone and electricity but no gas service.

A 1970s dome-roofed home sits on one property, a split-rail fence shields another, horses stand in pens, and water tanks dot the hills.

Residents worry that they might be cut off from help in an emergency. And they say they may be forced to sell their homes at rock-bottom prices if they lose access along the 3 1/2-mile dirt road.

``All of a sudden, you can't go home to your house and you can't get into your house,'' Gillingham said. ``What do you do?''

Retired commercial fisherman Les Jundy, 62, and his wife, Diane, have lived in their 5-acre home for 33 years.

``I'm in this to preserve my house,'' Jundy said.

At different points, the land along that back route belongs to the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority and Nominn LLC. Residents worry that either of those property owners could cut off access.

Previously, however, residents could just drive over the Metrolink tracks and through the Oasis mobile home park to Soledad Canyon Road. In August 2004, new owner Rancho LLC cut off access, but the county Fire Department ordered it reopened.

Since December 2004, however, when a flood washed out the bridge over the Santa Clara River -- corrugated metal pipes topped with dirt -- residents again have not been allowed to pass.

Rancho LLC has filed a countercomplaint to the residents' suit, saying some Briggs Road residents have trespassed.

The company also has cleared out the Oasis mobile home park and plans to turn it into an upscale recreational site, with RV hook-ups, a cafe and a pool.

``Our view is we'd like to make that a nice area instead of just continue where people do things hodgepodge,'' said Joseph Cobert, attorney for Rancho LLC. ``And eventually, we'd like to see that area improved.''

Rancho LLC's principal owners are Manny Fernandez, Careylee Moisan and Dennis Tomlinson. The three face felony grand theft charges for allegedly stealing water from SPV Water Co. as board members of the Canyon Country entity. Their attorney in that criminal case could not be reached for comment.

Rancho LLC has told the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and Metrolink that it's dangerous for residents to cross the tracks with only a stop sign in their path.

So the MTA could require a tunnel under the tracks to be built -- with residents chipping in at least part of the cost.

Rancho LLC also wants a good bridge to be built over the Santa Clara River if residents are going to cross there.

``How about that: We'd like to have it done properly and not just the easiest way,'' Cobert said. ``They (the residents) don't like that.''

Residents fear they could collectively be on the hook for millions of dollars if the MTA requires them to underwrite the cost of a tunnel, and aides to Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich say they're sensitive to those concerns.

``It's in the best interest for everybody to find a way to finance this, to actively engineer a solution that's good for the community and any future development that would take place out there,'' said Norm Hickling, Antelope Valley field deputy for Antonovich.

Cobert said he hopes a meeting with interested parties could happen within weeks. Another court hearing in the civil lawsuit between Rancho LLC and residents is scheduled for December.

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4 photos

Photo:

(1 -- 2 -- color; 1 -- color in AV edition only; 2 -- ran in AV edition only) Les Jundy and other residents of this remote Aqua Dulce Canyon community can no longer access their homes from this road off Soledad Canyon Road. Below, the Jundys and their dogs enjoy the quiet at their isolated home.

(3 -- 4 -- color; 3 -- ran in AV edition only -- 4 -- color in AV edition only) The only sign that residents see in this remote Aqua Dulce canyon community, right, is this weathered security sign on a small dirt road leading into the area. Residents are concerned that they may lose access to their homes and that emergency vehicles may not be able to reach them. At far right is the long and winding road that Les Jundy must take to get to his house in Aqua Dulce.

David Crane/Staff Photographer