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O'odham generously extend road deadline O'odham let road be used 30 more days

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One of the most enduring complaints of American Indian officials has been that getting anything done on a reservation takes forever because of the red tape involved in dealing with the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs or the tribal council.

There's even an old joke that Navajos sometimes tell: How long does it take to start a business on the reservation? Answer: Twenty years to life.

Indians are no strangers to projects being delayed by the need to comply with the alphabet-soup regulations of four or five agencies, but in the case of Coleman Road the tribe is evidently out of patience. It has refused to change its decision requiring that Coleman Road, which crosses reservation land and leads to a wildcat subdivision, be closed by Friday.

Coleman Road is the only access to a small group of homes that are not on the reservation. In all, 72 homeowners will lose access to their homes, west of Three Points and south of Arizona 86, if the Tohono O'odham stick to a decision to close the road.

In a way, you can't blame the O'odham. Most of the affected residents have been good neighbors, but some have been a major nuisance. Tribal officials say cattle have been shot and fences in the area have been cut. It didn't help that one of the residents in 2001 hosted a "rave," a loud and boisterous party that drew several thousand participants to the normally tranquil desert.

So, the Indians said, "enough," and set a deadline for closing the road. Since the residents had nowhere else to turn, they asked the county for help. The neighbors formed an improvement district, which means they'll end up paying for the road collectively, but Pima County is making the arrangements, which is a complicated process.

The county has been working on the permitting process for roughly three years. The new route, called Hayhook Road, will hug the reservation boundary, but it required easements to cross state trust lands and private property. Those easements are now in place. It also required other state and federal permits.

In an Aug. 7 letter to Vivian Juan-Saunders, chairwoman of the Tohono O'odham Nation, Pima County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry asked that Coleman Road be kept open beyond Sept. 1. "Please allow the County to continue with a logical and reasonable alternate timeline for providing a roadway alternative to Coleman Road as requested in my previous letters," he wrote.

There was an indication late Tuesday that the Tribal Council was considering extending the deadline for 30 days. We hope it takes that step.

The residents at Hayhook got themselves into this mess by purchasing property and building homes in an area where there was no legal access. Even so, those residents require police and emergency vehicle access, at least until the county can blade a temporary road.

The saga of Coleman Road is a sad but typical Arizona story. The road leads to a ranch that was subdivided into 40-acre home sites in the 1960s. Southwest Properties, the owner, applied to the Bureau of Indian Affairs for a right of way, but it was never granted. Huckelberry said the county is prohibited from denying a building permit solely on grounds that there is no access to a property.

So, houses went up in an area where the owners were dependent on the kindness of others. Now they're stuck. Huckelberry said the contract for the new road is out to bid and with luck a temporary road will be in place by the end of September. But everything depends on the Tribal Council.

We believe the documents provided to the tribe show that the county is acting in good faith to get the road built promptly. It will hurt nothing, and be seen as a gesture of good will, if the nation extends the deadline beyond Friday.