ANAHEIM : City to Weigh Law on Building of Trails

Individual property owners would be required to install bicycle, equestrian and hiking trails in Anaheim Hills before being allowed to occupy new homes there under an ordinance the City Council will consider tonight.

The city requires individual home builders, as well as large developers, to deed to the city a portion of their property for the construction of trails to gain approval for building homes in the hills.

But according to the city’s Parks and Recreation Department, many individuals delay the installation of the trails until long after they have moved into their homes and many promised trails are never built.

The ordinance, which will require a second vote next week, would require property owners to construct the trails before the city issues occupancy permits. A similar ordinance already requires large developers to build trails before selling their homes.

Christopher Jarvi, the city’s parks and recreation director, said that requiring trails to be built before occupancy is allowed is necessary because many homeowners build swimming pools and make other improvements on sites where trails were promised, making installation of the paths difficult.

“When we go out to build the trail, we will find these improvements, but the homeowner will claim a hardship if we try to remove the improvement, which makes constructing the trail impossible,” Jarvi said. “A trail that is broken up by a swimming pool is hardly a trail. We have a lot of trails listed on tract maps that are never going to be built.”

He said that homeowners have to obtain permits to build the improvements but that the city does not check to make sure they have not pledged to build a trail on that portion of their property.

“We don’t have an extensive system of trails in the hills, but we are trying to maintain a skeletal system that will maintain public access,” Jarvi said.

The council meeting begins at 5 p.m. at City Hall, 200 S. Anaheim Blvd.