Closing public access trail located in private park

The HOA owns a private park, signed as such, for residents use only. Many years ago, trail builders illegally built a trail on county land for mountain bikers to use for mountain biking. By illegally, the trail was built by volunteers without authorization from the county.

Today, the board of directors of the association that owns the park is looking at closing the trailhead. They say that, since the trail crosses an existing basketball court, that kids aren't able to play basketball because of the trail users. They would like to put in additional features in this part of the park that would be attractive to little kids, and they directors are concerned that there might be a collision between little kids playing on the new playground equipment and mountain bike riders riding through the park.

The board has approached the county with the request to move the trailhead to another location where the county land directly fronts the street and then trail users would not need to ride through the private park for mountain biking. Because of bureaucratic policy, the county is unable to do so, and unable to permit volunteers to move the trail.

The county would prefer to leave the trail where it is, but have the association donate a trail easement to give the public the right to cross the private park in the future.

The mountain bike trail is popular among the public but not as popular among homeowners. Out of 300 homes, probably less than 10 homeowners use the trail on a regular basis.

What are your thoughts?

A picture of the park with the trail is attached. The route that the riders normally take is marked with red dots.

Simple, put on your meeting agenda to solicit bids to erect a fence that blocks access to the property and post no trespassing sings and cite the state statute for trespassing on the signs. I agree with Augie, having non owners on private property is a recipe for lawsuits if someone gets injured.

Certainly from the county's perspective, doing nothing is easiest. Maybe if you close access, lots of people will complain and the county will feel a bit more pressure to act.

That's great. I would definitely suggest that you call your HOA insurance agent and have a chat about the liability issue. Good luck!

HOA property.

It's really unfortuanate that the trail runs right through the basketball court. Kids can't play basketball because adult mountain bikers are always riding through the court.

I agree with others, build a fence and check with your attorney for proper signage and, perhaps, a press statement (if needed when others complain).

You might also need to hire some off duty police officers for a few weekends to issue trespassing warnings (and if needed citations) until those who use the trail get the message.

That suggestion would still allow public access to the dirt path through the HOA for access. Not to mention cause additional cost to the HOA to build a fence completely around the courts.

There WOULD be an HOA cost to fence public access across the path. Public should not be using the path on HOA property and opening up the HOA to liability. Closing public access with a fence would put an end to the issue.