"historical easements" as it concerns detecting

[Tom_in_CA]

Here's a thought, for anyone thinking of hunting a place with well-worn short-cuts paths across it (corner lots in town, hiking trails through the woods, etc...)

There is apparently a legal concept known as "historical easement". Meaning that if some place of land has simply been "historically" used for a certain period of time (not sure how many years), with no apparent concern by the owners (no signs, no fences, and ... just "everybody does it" type thing...), that after awhile, the trail or spot or whatever can become a "historical easement".

Here's two recent example news articles on the subject:

MARIN COUNTY / Historic use bumps into property rights / A fire road that runs through private property is at the center of a controversy between longtime users and new owners - SFGate

Martins' Beach trespassing charges against surfers dropped - Santa Cruz Sentinel

 

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[Tom_in_CA]

One time, about 10 yrs. ago, a buddy and I in my town got the idea that we'd go into the most blighted section of our city (the "chinatown" district), and do some detecting. We had the idea to hit certain vacant lots between buildings, where 1880s/90s structures had once stood, but which were torn down (or burned or whatever) back in the 1940s/50s/60s. We were going to take flat shovels and scrape down stretches up near the sidewalks (which we estimated was where yester-years wooden porches/steps would have been). We'd scrape/shovel down areas to 4" deep or whatever, in various zones, and then pull out the detectors to detect. Because the top 4 or 5" inches is super junky d/t the modern vacant lot. You know, screw caps, hypodermic needles, trash, foil, etc.... from being a vacant lot in a blighted district, for the past 30 or 40 yrs.

Now to give a mental image: these couple of lots are criss-crossed with short-cut trails, and homeless people have set up tents there, as it's right across from our local rescue mission/soup kitchen. Abandoned shopping carts, etc...

Now, I suppose some md'rs would say it is the duty of the md'r to find out who owns the lot, and "get permission", eh? But if I understand "historical easement" correctly, then the mere fact of standing there, or crossing over it, etc... is not, in and of itself, the breaking of a law. We did, in fact, do some county assessors searches on the parcels, and determined they were from out of town (from a city several hours from here). Chinese last names which indicated to me, that these were descendants of our original China town property people, who had probably had the plots passed down to them. But because the area had become so blighted by the 1960s, it simply didn't pay to carry on any sort of commercial venture, or do any developement, etc.... So ... essentially,... they just walk away, and the property sits abandoned.

 

[stefen]

Historic easements has been a hot topic for many years, and usually a property owner installs a chain across the trail for several days, indicating 'Limited Access'.

If any municipal agency attempting to mandate the use of private property, is applying 'Reverse Condemnation' and must revert to actual condemnation and pay reimbursement for the property...

Real Estate attorney's usually are well versed in this topic.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Historic easements has been a hot topic for many years, and usually a property owner installs a chain across the trail for several days, indicating 'Limited Access'.....

Great info. stefen. Thanx for chiming in. So in the absence, of that "...chain across the trail for several days...", then ...... up till that time, no one's going to "get arrested" for using a short-cut trail then. RIGHT?

 

[stefen]

The only time someone is arrested is when they go around a chain or otherwise do any property damage.

Its always better to respect other peoples property and rights.

The chain simply states that you have limited permission to cross my land...and if you want to get crosswise with my rights and want to make this a permanent easement, then you have a big legal problem. And if you want to condemn my property, then cough up the money and pay all expenses including attorney fees.

Each time the trail is chained, it would be smart to take an in-camera-date-stamped picture for future use.