selling LOA land to SNA

We live in a LOA in a rural neighborhood. A State Natural Area new chapter is inquiring as to whether landowners can sell off small sections of their land to support a public trail system along an adjacent river. This acquisition of land is desirable for the state park as it would widen the trail along the river for public use.

Our CC&Rs refer to annexation of land, which would require a 2/3 vote of the landowners, but does not address the of acquisition of land that would diminish the acreage of the Landowners Association aggregate land.

Additionally subdividing land can only occur if the lots result in 3 acres or more. To allow for people to sell of small portions of their land seems like it would be a violation.

I personally think we need to consult an attorney before allowing people to even consider selling off small sections of their land to the state Park Natural areas. But I wonder if anyone can give me advise on this.

Thanks Robin

Our LOA requires that the land 50ft from all lots property line be conservation land to remain as it is and as it grows for wildlife. At this time the state parks department owns a narrow strip of land along the river adjacent to approx. 12 landowners land. Their question to us just recently, so there is no ambiguity at this time, is do our Covenants have any restrictions which would not allow the acquisition of some of the land along this river. My answer right now is yes.

I don't live along the river so this is not a personal issue, but as a director of the board I believe it is our duty to protect our landowners association. Using our Covenants to "stop" a community effort is not our/my intention. But the founders of our community believed in protecting the native environment, and the people who want to hike along the river, put in toilets, trash cans etc, may not be what the founders of our community strived for. This type of protected environment is their view of "protection" but not necessarily the landowners who live along the river. Right now the state already has land along the river, they just want more.

So to ask our community to give up 50 - 100 feet of land along this lovely river that was intended as conservation land set aside for wildlife, because the state wants a wider trail for the public to traverse along the river seems an overreach for me. We want to work with this new SNA, and our community is the first to volunteer for clean up efforts along the river etc. But the Covenants state that if land is subdivided the smallest lot can be only 3 acres. My position is as a director of our community, if the state wants to purchase land along this river they should do so according to our Covenants and where I come from property rights are highly valued and I think we would win.