Tunbridge trails debate leads to larger issue of landowner control in Vermont

TUNBRIDGE — The homeowners of a former dairy farm that dates again to the nineteenth century are suing the city of Tunbridge over a dispute concerning the utilization of two public trails that run via their property.

John Echeverria and Carin Pratt say within the submitting that they “haven’t posted the land to limit looking and have permitted use of the land by the general public for quite a lot of leisure actions, together with snowmachines, climbing, snowboarding and snowshoeing,” however they’re opposing the usage of wheeled automobiles together with ATVs, bikes and bicycles on the 325 acres generally known as Dodge Farm.

The lawsuit cites issues that embrace “potential injury to wetlands alongside the paths from bicycle use and dangers to the protection of path customers (and potential legal responsibility for accidents),” in addition to stating that “opening these trails to bicycle use would severely intervene with the Plaintiffs’ use and delight of their property” and likewise create a “security threat for the Plaintiffs and others who stay, work in or in any other case frequent” the world that the path crosses via.

Echeverria and Pratt moved from Washington, D.C., to Strafford greater than a decade in the past. They hire the Dodge Farm property, which they bought in 2015, to a Tunbridge resident. In addition they “have granted permission to a neighbor to pasture cows on the property” and use two barns.

Pratt was a longtime manufacturing govt with CBS’ Face the Nation. Echeverria is a professor at Vermont Regulation College and a property lawyer himself.

Norwich lawyer Geoffrey Vitt is representing the couple.

The go well with alleges that the Selectboard has not been open to making an allowance for the issues about cyclists and continues to allow cyclists on the path. Underneath state regulation, the go well with maintains, permission wasn’t the city’s to grant within the first place.

The go well with argues that as a result of a path, just like the Orchard and Baptist Hill trails that cross Dodge Farm, “shouldn’t be part of the city freeway system” it’s not within the purview of the Selectboard.

Whereas the submitting hinges on the technical authorized definitions of rights of means, each events harassed the commonsense points on the coronary heart of the lawsuit.

“Our place is that the authority to keep up the general public path stays with the landowner,” Vitt mentioned.

“I’m not saying we’ve got the correct to say who will get to make use of it, however I’m saying we’ve got the correct to make the choice about how, if in any respect, the general public path is to be maintained.”

Earlier than the lawsuit introduced it to a head, the dispute had been enjoying out in Selectboard and Planning Fee conferences for nearly two years and noticed the formation of a Tunbridge Trails Committee.

“I simply suppose trails ought to stay open,” Tunbridge resident and bicycle owner Michael Sacca mentioned. “They’re more and more helpful for public entry to land, and they’re public proper of how.”

Sacca participated in public discussions with the paths committee, pushing for the paths to stay open to make use of by cyclists and even prompt {that a} group of residents, quite than the city, might be answerable for path upkeep.

“It’s alternative for conservation teams and native volunteers to get collectively and preserve these trails in fine condition for everyone,” Sacca mentioned.

The eagerness behind the controversy shouldn’t be misplaced on city officers.

“Having hosted all of those public boards and gotten a lot suggestions — a whole lot of it’s on video report — it’s very easy to see the extent of emotion that’s contained on this dialogue,” mentioned Laura Ginsburg, co-chair of the planning fee.

“Entry to the outside is likely one of the issues that makes this place particular,” Ginsburg mentioned, including that individuals use numerous roadways in Tunbridge, from city highways to authorized trails to personal property, for out of doors recreation.

Montpelier lawyer Paul Gillies is representing the city. Gillies, in addition to members of the Selectboard, declined to remark.

Ginsburg harassed that the lawsuit has broader implications for the utilization of trails that run via non-public properties throughout the state — a problem that’s had little consideration in Vermont courts.

“It’s like this authorized grey space that you simply don’t know exists till any person pushes again towards it,” Ginsburg mentioned. “We’re keenly conscious that what occurs in Tunbridge goes to affect different cities.”