San Luis developer, neighbor battle over trees
SAN LUIS, Ariz. — A three-foot-wide strip of land harboring trees is the focus of a legal battle between a San Luis developer who’s running for mayor here and a one-time political ally-turned-foe.
The trees are located just inside the property line of a parcel Nieves Riedel is developing as the second phase of her Las Quintas residential subdivision. Guillermina Fuentes, her onetime ally, lives on an adjacent lot.
And while the trees are on Riedel’s land, Fuentes has gone to court to try to prevent the four trees and a stand of prickly pear cactus from being uprooted in site preparation work.
Citing a legal concept known as “adverse possession,” Fuentes contends the trees and cactus rightfully belong to her, since she has cared for them for more than 12 years. The lawsuit she filed in Yuma County Superior Court was transferred to a Maricopa County court, after no judge in Yuma accepted the case.
Meanwhile, Riedel and one of her workers have gone to court seeking restraining orders against Fuentes, alleging she is interfering with the development of the subdivision planned on the city’s north side.
Recent weeks have seen San Luis police go to the site to mediate the dispute between Fuentes and Riedel’s workers, and Riedel recently went to the lengths of erecting a cinderblock wall separating the Las Quintas II parcel from the trees and Fuentes’ property.
Riedel and Fuentes, herself a builder, were once allies seated on the San Luis City Council — Fuentes serving as mayor and Riedel as a councilwoman. Running for re-election as a block in 2006 — this time Riedel seeking the mayor’s seat and Fuentes running for council — the two were defeated at the polls.
A rift developed between the two, and when Riedel competed again for mayor, Fuentes campaigned for her opponent, Juan Carlos Escamilla, who won. Riedel is making another bid for mayor in this year’s elections.
Fuentes says her only intention is to protect the trees she believes should be hers.
“For me they mean a lot,” she said. “I planted them, I cared for them and they’re my property.”
Riedel says Fuentes can’t claim ownership of the trees because she doesn’t own the land where they grow.
“That land is protected by the law,” Riedel said. “She cannot say that having planted and taken care of some trees on land that did not belong to her, that that land is hers.”
The contested strip is three feet in width and extends the length of two side-by side lots that border the Las Quintas II site, one belonging to Fuentes and the other belonging to her mother.
Riedel conceded that until dispute is settled, she can’t develop the contested land. The wall she put up does not block Fuentes’ access to the trees.
Nonetheless, Fuentes contends the height of the wall violates the terms of the development agreement between Riedel and the city for Las Quintas II. She said the agreement limits the height to three feet.
Riedel said she never agreed to a three-foot limit, and Jose Guzman, the city’s planning and zoning director, also said there is no such restriction in the development agreement.
“This issue is going to be resolved in the courts,” Riedel said. “That land is my property, my company is the owner. She cannot come and invade the site like that.”