CLARK FORK - A simmering road access dispute is reaching a steady boil in the Spring Creek Valley.

The dispute surrounds access to Liberty Heights, a 21-lot subdivision northwest of town. It emerged during a fiercely contested proposal to develop a camp retreat called Shadow Valley.

Bonner County's Planning and Zoning Commission denied a permit for the retreat earlier this year, but the access dispute has endured and gradually escalated.

In an attempt to resolve the issue, Bonner County proposed extending East Spring Creek Road to connect with Sled Run Trail so Liberty Heights landowners will have access.

The problem with that plan, however, is that the road extension cuts through the middle of private property owned by Michael and Elizabeth Deen.

Bonner County contends the route has been public for more than a century, according to a viewer's report recognized by county officials in 1903. Counsel for the Deens assert that no public right of way has ever been recorded and no public right of way is listed in the couple's title report for their property.

"Our hope is that this will be done legally with due process of law," said Elizabeth Deen.

But those hopes are fading.

The Deens filed suit in 1st District Court on Monday to have judge declare the purported right of way invalid, but that appeared to escalate the county's development of the right of way.

The county contends the building the Deens purchased in 2010 and remodeled into a home encroaches into the right of way. County officials have sent the couple letters indicating that they wish to position the road so it does not conflict with the home.

"It is our hope that we can work with you to establish a new right of way for the north end of Shadow Valley Road that leaves your current home intact," Road and Bridge Director Don Hutson said in a June 9 letter.

However, Hutson said that intent is contingent upon the couple's cooperation with establishing the right of way.

"They said they weren't going to work with us because we hired an attorney," Elizabeth Deen said.

The couple's attorney, Mischelle Fulgham, has since filed for a restraining order to stop the county from developing the right of way until the dispute is put before a judge for review.

"If these actions continue before the court is able to make a determination as to the validity of the alleged right of way, the plaintiffs will be left with significant loss and real property damage," Fulgham said in court documents.

A hearing on the restraining order is set for Thursday.

The access dispute is rooted in David Walker's development of Liberty Heights, Bonner County Deputy Prosecutor Scott Bauer said prior to the commencement of legal proceedings.

Plat maps on file with the county list Stoney Brooke Lane as the development's legal access, but that representation was apparently never vetted.

Landowners on Stoney Brooke assert that the road has always been private. One of the landowners, Iris DeMauro, had her attorney put neighbors on notice that Stoney Brooke is off-limits to the public. Signs and gates have been erected to underscore that position.

That put pressure on the county to ensure Liberty Heights is not landlocked, according to Bauer.

"The point is Liberty Heights needs access and they don't have it except for that road," Bauer said of the East Spring Creek extension.

Bauer acknowledges the hardship the new road would place on the Deens, but said 20 more landowners would be affected if the route isn't established.

"It's kind of a mess and I have a feeling it's only going to get more complicated," said Bauer.

The Deens, meanwhile, contend that the proposed road runs through a wetland mapped by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Railroad ties were placed across a tributary of Spring Creek on Tuesday to form a makeshift bridge.

Elizabeth Deen said no wetlands permit was obtained for the work. Moreover, the cement foundation of the bridge is crumbling which makes the span unsafe for the public.