The City of Santa Rosa is asking a court to decide whether cyclists have the right to ride through the Village at Wild Oak subdivision near Oakmont.
The move is the latest in a long-running controversy pitting cyclists eager to preserve a popular access route between Annadel State Park and Oakmont against a 61-home gated community that claims the easement across its private property is only for pedestrians.
Vice mayor Gary Wysocky said the city was forced to litigate the issue because the homeowners association – which erected "No trespassing" and "No bicycles" signs along the disputed pathway in 2008 - has refused to work out a reasonable solution.
"They don't want to dance," said Wysocky, an avid cyclist.
Christine Culver, executive director of the Sonoma County Bicycle Coalition, lauded the city's move. She agreed the association's representatives have expressed little interest in resolving the dispute short of court.
"They took a very hard line," Culver said. "They were not really interested in how to solve this beyond how to not get bikes to go through there."
Joseph LaVigna, president of the Villages at Wild Oaks Homeowners Association, said a court may be the best place to resolve the dispute given its long history, complex land use issues, and heated political rhetoric.
"We have been advised by five separate attorneys that the city's position is untenable and is not supported either in fact or in law," LaVigna said.
The easement that created a pathway between Channel Drive in Annadel and White Oak Drive in Oakmont was originally intended to allow access through the subdivision for pedestrians, cyclists and equestrians, given its proximity to the nearby polo grounds.
But state parks officials objected to the easement including cyclists and horses out of a concern that it would create an unauthorized entry point to the park, LaVigna said.
So the project as approved by the city and the easements granted by the developers Mark and Victor Trione only called for "pedestrian and emergency access" along the easement.
The city, which filed the suit last week, claims planning staff "inadvertently" made the changes and did not have the power to do so. But LaVigna claims the association's attorneys – both of whom are former Santa Rosa city attorneys - will demonstrate that it was clearly the objections of state parks officials that caused the change to the scope of the easement.
He said residents of the neighborhood never objected to horses or cyclists using Timber Springs Drive or a 5-foot wide path beside a practice polo ground until a map wrongly identified the easement as a recreational cycling path. Large numbers of riders soon followed.
This created "havoc" for elderly pedestrians, dog walkers, and worshippers trying to attend services at the Star of the Valley Catholic Church on White Oak Drive, he said.
Instead of exploring other access points, the city has instead chosen to try to rewrite history, he said.
"We welcome the opportunity to present our case to a judge," LaVigna said.
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