The County Commission on Wednesday declined to close public access to the old dirt road leading up to the wilds of Aetna Mountain in Lookout Valley, saying that can only be done by a judge.
The surprise action came after the Planning Commission had unanimously recommended the closure.
Barry Bennett, executive director of the Regional Planning Agency, said it was recently learned that Hamilton County has never adopted an interest in the road that dates to before the Civil War.
He said the road exists only as a private easement. He noted that Chancellor Howell Peoples ruled several years ago that it was a public road.
A group led by Doug Stein and Gary Chazen hope to build hundreds of homes atop the now-wild mountain, but must first improve the road.
Attorney Bill Horton said the group plans to spend over $2 million rebuilding the road along a new route.
Mr. Stein said as long as there is a ruling that it is a public road that hundreds of people are going up the road on four wheelers and other vehicles "and tearing our property to pieces."
He said the group apparently will now have to return to court "to try to convince the chancellor that we have a public road that no one will take responsibility for."
A portion of the road is in the city of Chattanooga and part in the county.