Please let the Parks Department know if you are referring to the paved area between the street and the park.

We will assign this to the Parks Department pending that confirmation of the path location.

Bill Ward Director of Permitting and Inspections assigned this issue to Burlington VT Parks

Yes, I am referring to the paved area between the street and the park. I have spoken with Chapin about this and have emailed the City Attorney's office so that they can confirm it involves an easement on 96 Linden Terrace. Thanks for your help!

We'll take a look and formulate a plan.

This issue was recategorized from Sidewalks to Capital improvements and long-term projects.

This project is being added to an improvement to courts and access in Calahan Park within the next two years.

Thanks for the planned improvements. This is a common conduit for Champlain Elementary School students who live north and east of the park and do their best to avoid the dangerous Pine St. and Shelburne St. corridors. I believe incorporating a provision for winter maintenance (plowing/salting/sanding) from Locust St. to Cherry Ln. into the plan is warranted. Could you please advise on public hearings for the plans via this forum, Front Porch Forum, and similar so that the public can help you make this happen?

My office has looked at the issue of the Callahan Park Access at 96 Linden Terrace. In doing so, we found the attached deed, which shows that the access path belongs to the Birchcliff Dwellers Association. The plot plan is hard to see, but the access is marked by a “V” on the left side of the page. The conveyance puts the burden on the Association “to keep and maintain said passageway unobstructed and maintain a suitable fence along the easterly side.” We didn’t find any later conveyance, so it appears to us that the Association is still responsible for maintaining the access.

This means that the access is private property, and the City has no legal authority to improve the path. If the members of the Association want the City to be involved with the path, they will need to hold a meeting and authorize one or more individuals to approach the City with a proposal on their behalf.

I hope this is helpful.

Eileen M. Blackwood
City Attorney & Corporation Counsel

Thanks for looking into this.
1. The deed attachment didn't come through on the SeeClickFix post, any way we can access it via the Interwebs?
2. As a homeowner in the Birchcliff neighborhood, I'm not aware of a "Birchcliff Dwellers Association". If that is a legal entity that is no longer active, does that change the legal opinion?

Mike Fisher, 28 Cherry Ln

Mike, had to convert the .pdf to a .jpg but here's the document our attorney found.

Also here's the latest update from the City Attorney:

I am looking further into what the City knows about the Association—for example, the access path doesn’t show as a separate parcel on the tax maps, so I’m trying to track down its status.

I suspect that the Association is a homeowner’s association that should have been established by the developer at the time your lots were originally created, but either wasn’t created or stopped functioning at some point long ago. Unfortunately, in that case, you are going to have to check with a private attorney to figure out who has standing and can act for the Association and who assumes liability for an accident on the path. I don’t think I’m going to be able to answer those questions for you.

But I am trying to track down any information the City has—and will try to get that to you as soon as I can.

Eileen M. Blackwood
City Attorney & Corporation Counsel

Any updates to this?

City Attorney, Eileen Blackwood, has determined that the path property is owned by "Birchcliff Dwellers Association," an entity that was never registered with the Secretary of State's office. The deeds of various Birchcliff Parkway Neighborhood residents do not mention this organizational entity. We are waiting for Ms. Blackwood to identify who has legal standing to hire an attorney to clarify property ownership. We are also waiting for City Councilors Joan Shannon and Chip Mason to investigate what the City can do to improve the Callahan Park access.

Courtney W assigned this issue to Burlington Parks

Any updates to this? School children are going to start using this dangerous path soon. Thanks.

We will be putting the path in our radar as we work on a site analysis during FY 19 at Calahan Park.

Thank you. Looking forward to further updates.

glad to hear that this is on the radar!! Please make sure the Birchcliff FPF is notified of meetings regarding the park. I heard of one posted to Five Sisters only after the fact.

Has anything been determined regarding standing for the non existent Birchcliff Dwellers Association?

The City, rather than Birchcliff Pkwy neighborhood residents, should bear the responsibility, liability, and cost of improving and maintaining the path.
No one technically owns the parcel, and the dimensions of the parcel are too narrow to meet current City enforcement code for a pedestrian path.
BTV South End (https://www.burlingtonvt.gov/planBTV/SE) is not fair or sustainable, in the way that it encourages walking through private property.
Our neighborhood would need to organize and hire an attorney to establish ownership of the path parcel. After that, the City might be interested in purchasing it if they could also acquire some adjacent land, which is unlikely.
I would invite Cindi Wight, Director of Burlington Parks, Recreation & Waterfront, to comment, please.

P.S. when was the meeting regarding the park held?

"This project is being added to an improvement to courts and access in Calahan Park within the next two years." - via parks in 2016. Has this been fixed yet?

It has not.

The City's position has not changed from the comments by City Attorney Blackwood on 3/23/17.

The Calahan Master Plan was delayed and we are looking to start the project this year.

Found this on the web. Seems like a pretty straight forward issue of abandonment:

"Escheat is a legal term relating to the reversion of real property to the state where no individuals or entities exist that are entitled to inherit the property of a decedent. Put simply, the state takes the property if no one else has a right to it under the intestate laws. It is a common law doctrine that operates to ensure that property is not left abandoned and owner-less."