CRYSTAL -- Crystal Heights resident Bob Regan was rebuffed Tuesday as he requested the Nye County commissioners to declare as historic a road that could soon be part of a large residential development.

Regan said the Old Ash Meadows Road was a thoroughfare established in 1906 that led from Crystal to Fairbanks Springs. Today, he said, people still use it for horse-riding, while the U.S. Geological Survey has monuments along the way.

"It's about 1,800 feet long. It's just something that ought to be considered and left open. That's proposed to be a gated community out there. They've already got all their pins set in place," Regan told commissioners.

But Nye County Commission Chairman Gary Hollis said flatly, "We don't have the right or the jurisdiction to stop anybody on private property. If you want to buy that property, you can buy it and preserve it as long as you want."

Regan charged the county ignored the old road during the planning process. The old road cuts diagonally across two 4-acre parcels subdivided for development, he said.

"I don't know if we even have an ordinance that covers that," Hollis said.

Commissioner Roberta "Midge" Carver questioned Regan: "If that were your piece of property, how long would you give up that piece of road, not being able to put a house on it?"

Carver was offended when Regan said he hadn't contacted the developers, nor had they contacted him.

"It's going to lose its character out there if it proceeds to get developed, as it's suspected, because there will be no plans for it," Regan said.

There is also an issue with a surveyor falsifying the property lines, Regan claimed.

Commissioner Joni Eastley said she is a strong supporter of public roads, known as RS 2477 roads. But she took offense to back-up material Regan provided, giving instructions on how to assert rights to RS 2477 roads, including the threat of lawsuits against uncooperative landowners.

"I would suggest the petitioner pursue that as a civil matter," Eastley said.

"It sounds to me like the Sahara Club," Hollis said, mistakenly referring to lawsuits filed by the environmental group The Sierra Club.