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Neighbors weave web of anti-trail sentiment -- Nov 12 article
webmaster's response to: Neighbors weave web of anti-trail sentiment
Residents don't have it so rough -- Nov 26 letter
Webmaster's note: The following article may contain inaccuracies and does not necessarily represent the position of the NRLVTC. It is included in its unedited form for purposes of public documentation.
Boulder Planet, Boulder, Colorado, November 12, 1997, page 13
Neighbors weave web of anti-trail sentiment
Residents say plans for open space will invade privacy
By Julie Jargon
BOULDER PLANET
With public money the Open Space department is trying to provide a public service by extending a trail in an area of large homes with picturesque views.
But residents of the North Rim subdivision don't want joggers and bicyclists on public property peering into their picture windows. So adamant are they that residents have taken their concerns to Open Space officials and are now turning to cyberspace to protest the proposed trail.
After the Open Space/Real Estate Department suggested developing a trail behind about 40 homes in the area off Neva Road near Left Hand Valley Reservoir, residents feared their privacy would be endangered.
The open space department wants to convert a former utility-access corridor around the North Rim subdivision into a major link in the city's open space trail system, north of Eagle Trail.
The North Rim/Lake Valley Trails Committee developed a Web site early this month, where residents and open space officials can interact in writing. Maps of planned trail systems surrounding the North Rim area and pro-posed alternatives have been posted, as well as written testimony from an October public meeting on the issue.
"Squeezed between suburban back yards, an open, ditch and a barbed wire farmer's fence, the corridor could not be a safe or aesthetic trail for equestrians, bikers, runners, hikers and dog owners," wrote North Rim Adjacent Property Owners President Gerry Stahl in a letter posted on the Web site he created.
In his online plea, Stahl explained the residents love open space but that they "think trails should be out in the open space, away from homes wherever possible.
"Boulder City and County residents should watch the resolution of this conflict between Open Space planners and the community as a test case of whether open space will be managed in a responsible and responsive manner," Stahl wrote.
North Rim resident Dan Selig echoed Stahl's sentiments. " The unspoken concern is that of privacy. All of our homes have big picture windows that are exposed to the back. The idea of strangers walking by and looking into our homes is quite unnerving. The next time you walk around in your home, please think about how it would be if passers by could look in," Selig wrote in the online forum.
But residents' objections and efforts to fight the trail may be pointless. In a letter to Selig, Open Space environmental planner Brent Wheeler explained that the city has no obligation to inform homeowners of changes - like trail additions - to public land.
"It is unfortunate, that in your case you were misled, but the Open Space Departments have little control over developers once the area is subdivided. That would be a matter you would have to discuss with the County Land Use Department or a legal advisor," Wheeler wrote to Selig.
An open house will be held Wednesday, Dec.10, for city and county open space officials and the Open Space Board of Trustees to discuss the trail project. City and county staffs will review information from these meetings and return to the Open Space Board of Trustees early next year for their recommendation.
Open Space in cyberspace
Web site of the North Rim/Lake Valley Trails Committee: http://www.tridog.com/nrlvtc/index.html
Open Space Area Management Plans: http://openspace.ci.boulder.co.us/public.htm
Open Space Department: http://openspace.ci.boulder.co.us/gis/nbv.htm
Response to Boulder Planet
This article was written without the reporter speaking to anyone in NRLVTC. Apparently, the reporter was pointed to this web site and encouraged by personnel at the City of Boulder to put an "anti-trail" spin on the story, focusing on the personal expression of one resident rather than the arguments put forward by the organization. Such reporting provokes uninformed and misdirected reactions like the one below. See our letter to the editor of the Camera for a concise statement of our response to this.
It seems that the media would rather create sensations and human interest conflicts than report on the issues that community groups are trying to get in front of the public. That is why NRLVTC has created this web site as a medium in which we can provide public documentation without a reporter's slant.
-- NRLVTC
published in Boulder Planet, November 27, 1997
Residents don't have it so rough
It is a shame that the residents of the North Rim subdivision may have to lose some of their privacy to a hiking trail in the vicinity of their homes. One of the residents, searching for empathy, asked, "The next time you walk around your home, please think how it would be if passers-by could look in."
Well, for most of us working types, that is the reality. Every stranger, every passing car, the neighbors across the street, can all look in our windows. How gladly many of us would trade the bustling roads around our homes for a simple hiking trail. Instead of having these public lands reserved for the privilege of these 40 homes, the land should be sold to developers. Then we could build a bunch of New Jersey-style homes with a nice busy road cutting through them all.
Sarcasm aside, there should be some attempt made to moderate the impact on these pretty (and expensive) dream homes. Some type of windbreak, or perhaps a grading, that would shield homes from direct view? Meanwhile, I suggest you all may want to investigate various window-covering products.
Guy W. Fernandez
Longmont
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