At the Feb. 27 city council meeting, alderman Kristi Kendrick introduced a proposed ordinance amending Municipal Code regarding lands under the jurisdiction of Parks. She said the proposed ordinance would give Parks jurisdiction of existing and proposed trails identified in the Master Plan for Trails.
City attorney Tim Weaver saw a problem with Section E.2 of the ordinance, which states: The City Council may vacate a trail or portion thereof, or sell or exchange a Trail or portion thereof, or divert a trail or portion thereof to other uses without the necessity of first regaining possession thereof by ordinance.”
Weaver said he read the section to say council could appropriate the property at any time, but alderman Terry McClung disagreed. He maintained the city should be OK with the ordinance as it was because the city would not do anything without working with Parks.
Alderman Mickey Schneider, however, posed hypothetical scenarios where a hiker walking a trail suddenly finds a trail closed because the city repossessed trail property without notifying the Parks Department. “You can’t do that. You can’t allow the city to come in and snatch, what, twenty feet of their work, all of their work over years, and suddenly their trail is gone,” Schneider said, calling it “illegal and stupid.”
Alderman David Mitchell said things would not happen as Schneider predicted. He saw coordination. He asserted council has not yet interfered with the Trails Plan, and the proposed ordinance cleans up issues and protects property rights.
“These are city properties, not Parks properties, and always have been,” Kendrick claimed, and added the ordinance was a part of streamlining the vacation process.
Schneider stated that Parks handles the properties, and asserted nothing gave the city the right to take something from them.
Vote to even read the proposed ordinance was 4-2, Schneider and alderman Bob Thomas voting No, with Schneider murmuring, “I won’t snatch something from somebody without discussing it.”
Vote to approve the first reading of the ordinance was also 4-2, with Schneider and Thomas as No voters, and Schneider mumbling, “I don’t steal land from people.”