Judge orders Yuba to pay attorney fees

Yuba County must pay attorneys fees for a Hallwood couple who successfully sued the county to halt a road construction project they say was improperly handled.

Yuba County Superior Court Judge Debra Givens awarded a total of $71,609 to J. William Yeates, Kevin Wagner, Jason Flanders and Kevin Culhane last week.

The attorneys represent Forrest and Bobbie Tull, of Hallwood, who sued the county over a haul road built by Teichert Aggregates, which has a mining operation near Hallwood. The road is supposed to connect into Highway 20 at Kibbe Road.

Yuba County Counsel Dan Montgomery could not be reached for comment Monday. Yeates declined comment on the ruling.

Teichert wants the road built so aggregate trucks can avoid using Hallwood neighborhood roads because of an increase in residential traffic and development in recent years. The move, county officials said previously, would reduce traffic, noise and dust on Hallwood roads. Many Hallwood residents supported the idea.

But the Tulls sued the county to stop Teichert from connecting the haul road into Highway 20 because they feared traffic and safety issues near their home. They also felt an environmental impact report was needed.

In February, a state appeals courts agreed with the Tulls and ordered an environmental impact report for the project.

Since then, environmental work has been completed, and the county issued a grading permit for the road, but Yeates said they are contesting the permit's issuance.

The project calls for a traffic light to be installed at the Kibbe Road-haul road intersection. Turning lanes will be installed. But the Tulls said the project would make entering and leaving their property a hazardous situation and filed suit.

Appeal-Democrat reporter Daniel Witter can be reached at 749-4712. You may e-mail him at dwitter@appeal-democrat.com.