A longstanding legal tussle over whether to let hang gliders land around Lake Elsinore will sail straight to the state Supreme Court if the sport's supporters get their way.

The Elsinore Hang Gliding Association is appealing to California's highest court for permission to land on a privately owned vacant parcel at the base of the Santa Ana Mountains. The appeal came after the California Fourth Appellate District Court ruled in September that the landowner has no obligation to let the hang gliders use the parcel.

Meanwhile, Elsinore Hang Gliding Association President Ken Niemi confirmed that local hang gliding and parasailing enthusiasts continue using the spot for landings.

It is unknown yet when -- or even whether -- the high court will hear the hang gliders' appeal, but fingers are being pointed in what has become a legal tangle that's continued for more than 10 years.

The dispute began in the late 1990s when parcel owner Montclair-based Concordia CKS Investments and Western International Development LLC decided to build homes on the hang gliders' landing zone.

Situated north of Grand Avenue, on the east side of the Ortega Highway where the road starts up the mountain, the landing zone is an unincorporated county island surrounded by the city of Lake Elsinore and U.S. Forest Service land.

Shannon Gallagher, attorney for Kang Shen Chen, the principal officer of Concordia CKS Investments, said the hang gliders have been trespassing. But Frank Hoffman, attorney for the hang glider association, said his clients have a right to use the site based on nearly two decades of uncontested use and an easement recorded in the association's name in 1996.

According to a legal agreement on the easement that was reached in 2004, Concordia and Western could develop the site as long a portion of the land was used jointly as a Riverside County flood-control debris basin and as a hang glider landing zone.

Before agreeing to let hang gliders land in that basin, however, Riverside County Flood Control officials wanted assurances the county would be indemnified for any hang gliding mishaps, and they looked to the city of Lake Elsinore to cover potential legal damages.

While the city promotes hang gliding and skydiving as community attractions, Councilwoman Melissa Melendez said Lake Elsinore is not willing to expose itself financially or annex the land for that purpose.

"Why should the city be financially responsible," she said, "when the property is privately owned and located in unincorporated county area?"

The county has a slightly different perspective:

"In order for a development to be built, there are conditions for all kinds of things," said David Stahovich, chief of staff to Riverside County Supervisor Bob Buster. "The conditions said (Chen and Concordia) must develop flood-control facilities.

"Had the hang gliders been successful in their lawsuit, they probably would have been able to get the property owner to give up a different piece of property or move the flood-control basin," Stahovich said. "Either one works for us. But why should the taxpayers assume liability?"