Property owner Lloyd Fields addresses Banning City Council to convince them to keep the name of Fields Road, which was named after his father, Harry.
cFacing a potential legal challenge, Banning’s City Council chose to look at “the big picture” Tuesday night, and at the request of the Morongo Band of Mission Indians, went ahead and approved changing the name of Fields Road to Malki Road, despite concerns raised by non-tribal residents who rely on the road to access their properties.

The Morongo reservation was originally called the Malki reservation before it was changed by the Bureau of Indian Affairs sometime probably in the late 1800s or early 1900s, according to tribe representatives, since Malki is the Cahilla name for the area.

Fields Road leads to the non-profit Malki Museum, which is on the Morongo reservation. Tribal representatives believe that changing the road’s name would make the museum easier for visitors to find, and might increase the number of visitors and enhance the museum’s revenues.

Lloyd Fields, 73, of Beverly Hills, who was at the meeting, was unable to convince the council that they should keep the street’s name intact, since it was named for his father, Harry Fields, a land investor who donated the land the road sits on to the county and the City of Banning in 1959.

The county named the road after the senior Fields, who died in 1972, but later ceded ownership of the east side of the road to the Morongo tribe. A half-mile portion of the western half of Fields Road lies within the City of Banning.

According to Morongo transportation consultant Eric Haley, the tribe has been working with Caltrans and municipalities along the freeway on a comprehensive road signage program in the Pass for nearly a year. The goal of the effort, he explained, is to improve the access to various recreation and tourist destinations in the region such as the Morongo Golf Club at Tukwet Canyon through accurate signage, thereby improving motorist safety and minimizing driver confusion.

Tribal spokesman Michael Fisher later clarified that the program calls for changing Cherry Valley Boulevard only south of I-10 in Beaumont to Tukwet Canyon Boulevard, and Apache Trail is being changed to Morongo.

A few city administrators in Beaumont contacted by a reporter said they had not been contacted by the tribe regarding changing of street names.

There are a number of signs in the Cabazon area that will be changed or removed to eliminate confusion and increase clarity for area visitors, Fisher said.

Haley said at the council meeting that the name of Johnson Lane in Cabazon would also be changed to Malki Road.

In February, Fields filed a lawsuit against Banning after the city declined to get involved in a dispute over road access to his property: the reservation set up a checkpoint on Fields Road, limiting access to non-tribal members.

The tribe claims that Fields has unlimited access to his property, but Fields did not agree: since he couldn’t directly sue Morongo, which is a sovereign nation, he sued the city. The lawsuit names the current members of city council — Bob Botts, Debbie Franklin, John Machisic, Don Robinson and Mayor Barbara Hanna, as well as City Manager Andy Takata — for causing obstruction damages in excess of $25,000. Fields contends that the gate and guardhouse built by the tribe on what he claims is a portion of public roadway that leads to his undeveloped land, is part of an easement that he owns. The guardhouse was reportedly built five years ago to control access to its reservation.

Fields claims that access to Fields Road is limiting, and his lawsuit calls for the city of Banning to remove the guard shack, which he has called “a roadblock.” He owns 41 acres of undeveloped land, completely surrounded by the Morongo Band of Mission Indians reservation near the Cabazon outlets, and guesses his property could profit him $15 million if he were allowed to develop it, he has said.

Other non-tribal property owners who have to access their homes via the Fields Road checkpoint expressed frustration over their isolation and inability to sell their homes, since the reservation turns down their requests to guarantee in writing access to the properties by potential future owners; and homeowners alleged that their properties had been targets of retaliatory vandalism whenever they voice their concerns to the tribe.

Bill Lewis said that he has been “systematically denied access” to his $2.2 million estate by the tribe, since he purchased it in 1986; he claims that his property has been victim of countless vandalism incidences that were intended to devalue his property.

Another woman claimed to have discovered bricks thrown through “all” of her windows after voicing concerns.

City council members expressed sympathy for the plight of the property owners, but pointed out that their agenda Tuesday night was to discuss changing the name of Fields Road. Council suggested that the issue of several of the property owners was beyond its purview, and encouraged them to take their case to the county.

The senior “Fields was probably a wonderful man,” said councilman Bob Botts, “but I’m looking at modern times, and by partnering with this economic powerhouse, I see a bigger picture that’s part of major changes by the tribe all up and down the freeway. If this means growth for the Malki Museum, it means growth in jobs.”

Haley added, “It’s a significant cultural asset that benefits everyone in the Pass area.”

Haley also acknowledged the concerns of property owners that were brought up to council.

“The tribal council has taken your advice and plans to voluntarily relocate their barricades, which were originally put up for the same concerns these residents bring up,” such as outsiders coming on to tribal land, illegally dumping garbage and vandalizing property, he said. “We are willing to work with the council and the citizens on improving access.”

The council voted unanimously to change the name of Fields Road to Malki Road.

Fields later said that he would have been OK with the name change if the city had agreed to address property owners’ access issue as part of its decision, but the council did not tack on any stipulations to their action, which concerned him.

Fields said he was considering going to court to block the name change.

As for Morongo’s next steps, “We are in continuing consultations with Caltrans, the county of Riverside and the cities,” spokesman Fisher said.

Staff Writer David James Heiss may be reached at dheiss@recordgazette.net .