Park district working to retain access to horse trails




SCENIC—The Las Posas equestrian trails surround Las Posas Equestrian Park, 2084 Via Veneto, which the park district has owned since 1972. An agreement with local homeowners granting access to the trails on their property is set to expire next year. District staff is meeting with homeowners to extend the agreement. Acorn file photo

The Pleasant Valley Recreation and Park District is planning negotiations with nearby homeowners to protect access to the Las Posas equestrian trails.

District staff said they hope to move forward in a way that benefits the district, the homeowners and the broader community.

“If all goes well, we will have them sign and extend the 30-year agreement,” Administrative Analyst Dylan Gunning said during the July 14 long-range planning committee meeting.

The trails surround Las Posas Equestrian Park, 2084 Via Veneto, which the district has owned since 1972.

For years, park officials assumed the district owned a section of the trail that runs behind the homes. They learned that was not the case in 1993, when a group of homeowners, upset that the public had access to their private property, sued the district.

The lawsuit was settled the same year, allowing the district to access the trails on 11 sections of private property as long as it also maintained the area.

The agreement is set to expire in March 2023, and any party in the lawsuit can unilaterally cancel it at the end of the 30-year term.

To maintain the district’s access to the trails, district staff needs to negotiate with each of the property owners to extend the contracts or create new ones.

Gunning told committee members Bev Dransfeldt and Jordan Roberts that the district sent letters and emails to each of the six homeowners who have easements or deeds for portions of the trail.

Staff is in the process of scheduling a meeting with the district’s lawyer and the affected homeowners to answer their questions about the trail, Gunning said.

“We’re going to be as flexible as possible,” he said. “Right now, (the meeting) is our main focus because if we can’t get this completed, there’s really not much else we can do.”

There is strong support among the local equestrian community to maintain the trail because it provides access to the Las Posas Equestrian Park, the only park managed by the district where horses are allowed.

Residents claim that cutting off access to the trails could force people who keep horses at nearby homes to ride in the street and could also diminish property values.

Board members have also made it clear that they want to protect access to the trails.

“It’s obviously a continued community effort, and I think that open space and trails are something that we know the community wants from our survey,” Roberts said during the meeting. “I appreciate and recognize the value.”