The neighborhood near the Honeybee trails access in Oro Valley are attempting to keep bicyclists out of their neighborhood.
According to Sonoran Desert Mountain Bicyclists and bike advocate Damion Alexander the HOA is planning to restrict access to the dirt road off of Quiet Rain Road that connects to the trail system.
This is not the first time the neighborhood and businesses in the area have attempted to thwart access to the trail system. Check out the previous stories here.
The trails can be accessed from Edwin Road, but requires a three mile trek on a dirt road. Check back for updates as advocates continue to work with the the key players.
Having dealt with easements before (I’m not an attorney, but my work and personal life has presented easement issues to me in several forms), based on your description of the easement, I think the public has the right to continue to use the road for access, sign or not.
As I understand it, it takes 10 years of non-use in AZ to lose your rights to an easement. If the public is intimidated by the sign into complying, eventually the easement can go away. Documentation of continued use could be important. Perhaps there is strength in numbers and an organized “access party” once a month, or some such might bring the issue to a head. Right now, the politicians know the feelings of the HOA. Demonstrating the sentiments of the bicycle riding public might achieve some balance and maybe they could find a way to do the right thing?
May anyone attend the town council meetings? I am a resident of Pima County (not Oro Valley,) but my employer is in OV. As a member of Public Lands Alliance and a mountain biker, I’d like to attend, even if just to hear the residents’ concerns.
According to Sonoran Desert Mountain Bicyclists and bike advocate
Damion Alexander the HOA is planning to restrict access to the dirt road
off of Quiet Rain Road that connects to the trail system.
http://www.ptvsports.pk/racing/
Augsburg
If recording or documentation is important, then I’m sure Strava would be a good tool to draw from.
Their intensity maps show frequent and high usage in that area. And if you consider that probably most of us aren’t using Strava, it’s easy to extrapolate that this is a very popular area.