Anybody else having experience with the aggressive efforts of trails.net to initiate “takings” for public trails.
We had a big brou-ha-ha over the Katy Trail a number of years ago - taking railroad easements for hiking/biking trails.
Well, now trail.net is going after citys and counties to develop trails. ('course they’ve been doing it for years. It’s just been a while since they’ve been real agressive around here.)
The idea is to ‘take’ public utitility easements, waterways, etc… to build public trails between local points of interests such as a city park and a winery. Or maybe a conservation area and a shopping mall.
Say you’ve got 50 acres out in the middle of a rural area for hunting/shooting/farming and recreation. There happens to be a public utility easement for a small rural electric cooperative for a powerline through your property.
Now there’s a conservation area a few miles away in one direction and a group of local wineries a few miles away in the other direction. Just so happens that there exist enough public utility easements between the two for trail.net to initiate ‘takings’ to build a public hiking/biking trail.
Next thing you know, you’ve got hikers and bikers travelling right through your property while you’re trying to hunt…[:(]