Sanity v. Sorchych. An email from Adam Trenk, Esq.

Good Morning All,

On Monday Night the Town Council will be voting on whether or not to approve a settlement agreement that would end two years of litigation arising out of the Town’s unilateral action to condemn an easement for a trail across private land.

The story is a little more interesting than that, as the land in question belongs to a developer, and the proposed trail would have run along side and occasionally crossed a private easement on the developers property that is maintained by and used to access the home of Gerald Freeman.  Freeman’s next door neighbor is Don Sorchych of the Sonoran News, and he and Freeman have not gotten along for some time.  It is widely believed that the impetus behind the pursuit of the trail at that particular time by the Town (rather than waiting until the developer applied for a plat or building permits as is customary) was Don Sorchych’s desire to use Town resources to harass Freeman and that he was able to accomplish that due to his close relationship with former Town Manager Usama Abjubarah and his “control” over the majority of the previous Council.

Freeman sued the developer, the Town, and Sorchych in 2012 and was successful in getting an injunction against the Town which is in place until the suit is resolved. Two weeks ago a court ordered mediation resulted in the proposed settlement (a copy of the settlement terms can be found with the agenda at this website:  http://cavecreek.civicweb.net/Documents/DocumentList.aspx?ID=19475 under agenda item 1).  The Council first considered approving the settlement last Monday but a vote was continued until this coming Monday the 3rd.

I write to ask for your attendance at the meeting and support of the settlement on Feb 3. Here is why.

It is true that the general plan shows there should eventually be a trail in the area to provide access and non vehicular cross connectivity between the East and West sides of Town. After all, if not the Town would never had a basis for attempting to condemn the trail to begin with, despite Sorchych’s influence.  I for one agree that that access is CRITICAL to completing the Town’s trail system and I believe that the citizenry of Cave Creek wants it and deserves it at the SOONEST POSSIBLE DATE.  This settlement agreement secures that access for the community with CERTAINTY.  If litigation is continued the outcome is as uncertain as is the duration of this mess.  Litigation could go on for years, preventing any advancement in providing access, and ultimately the Town could loose.  If the Town loses, we could end up without access altogether and on the hook for tens of thousands of dollars to compensate the other parties for attorneys’ fees.

The settlement agreement details a compromise whereby in exchange for the Town agreeing to wait to install a “trail” until after the Freeman’s no longer live in their home for a majority of the time, the Freeman’s will dismiss a suit and all parties will walk away and bear their own fees.  However, it does not end there.  If it did, I could not support it.

The settlement agreement further dictates that the Town will waive the fees for the developer’s plat application (approx $8k), and in exchange the developer will dedicate a public right of way ranging in width from 32 to 60 feet to run across the length of the property. Moreover, the developer will install, AT ITS OWN EXPENSE, a service road to provide access to the 10 lots on the property as well as Freeman and Sorchych’s properties, extinguishing Freeman’s easement.  BUT THAT IS NOT ALL! The developer will also install five foot wide unpaved shoulders along both sides of the road to accommodate hikers, bikers, and equestrians that want to cross the property! In other words the access that an “off road trail” would provide becomes redundant, because the desire for cross connectivity between east and west as detailed in the General Plan would be in place once the Town accepts the right of way.

Last monday Sorchych rallied his usual suspects to oppose the settlement by attempting to paint it as an abandonment of the Town’s trails system as detailed in the General Plan.  It was clear the opponents of the settlement had been deliberately fed mis-information to inflame their passions for the open space and trails we all love. One after another they regurgitated the same distortion of the facts and came to the same false conclusions.  They said the settlement was unnecessary because the Town would win the law suit.  They said that if we settle we are never going to have cross access between the east and west sides of town.  They said that the five foot wide unpaved shoulder along a road that serves a mere 12 properties and then ends in a cul-de-sac would be unsafe to walk or ride along.  All of these statements are baseless.

First, there is no guarantee the Town can win the law suit, and if we lose we stand to lose a heck of a lot more than just the trail.  The Town could be held liable for tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees.  Second, by virtue of the public right of way the Town will receive as a material condition of settlement, the EXACT SAME NON-VEHICULAR ACCESS (i.e. point A to point B across the developers property, note that vehicular access would terminate with a cul-de-sac) will be made available to the public, and as expeditiously as possible.  You see, as long as the litigation is on going there will be no access while Freeman’s injunction is in place. If we settle, the path will be clear for the developer to move forward and the Town will obtain the public right of way.  Finally, there is nothing unsafe about riding alongside a shoulder on a road that only services 12 lots. There are dozens of roads with greater traffic counts and no parallel trail in this community that are frequently utilized by pedestrians and equestrians (i.e. Flemming Springs, Yucca, Cahava Ranch, Highland, Military, Skyline, Basin, etc.).

Sorchych did not rally opposition last monday because he cares about trails. I believe his opposition lies in his desire to have the lawsuit continue to carry on the harassment of his neighbor at our expense.  If we do not settle, we, the tax payer, will continue to fund a fight over whether or not the trail infringes on the property rights of Gerald Freeman.  To Sorchych, it does not matter that the end result of the settlement delivers with certainty virtually the same uncertain outcome we would hope for should we continue to litigate. But Sorchych has nothing to lose by gambling with taxpayer money, and he is even happier if this issue can drive a wedge in the community to strengthen his effort to recall the first council in 14 years that he does not control.

The waning influence of the Sonoran News and Don Sorchych is an unfortunate reality of living in Cave Creek, and those of us that care must take a stand against it.  Even if the Council does the right thing and approves the settlement, stemming the financial bleed and securing East West access for the residents, it will likely only mark the victory of a small battle in a long war ahead as the toxic Sonoran News recall effort continues.  But with your help we will continue to win!

Please attend the meeting on Monday and support the settlement agreement to secure the coveted east west connection as soon as possible, and insulate the town against tens of thousands of dollars of potential liability.

There are other exciting issues before the council on the Agenda Monday so after the settlement matter is resolved, stick around, and thanks again for your support.

Sincerely, Adam Trenk