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Residents urge city to enable volunteer-built public paths; staff cite liability concerns
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Summary
Trail volunteers and advocates described detailed plans and years of experience maintaining paths and urged the city to allow volunteer-built trails with waivers and oversight. Staff and council acknowledged liability issues and asked staff to coordinate further; volunteers said a pilot at Tassajara Park was delayed for legal review.
Multiple residents and organized volunteer groups asked the council to enable volunteer-built public paths and a Tassajara Park pilot project, saying volunteer labor could deliver safer, low-cost paths that benefit recreation and evacuation access.
Volunteers’ position: Janet Byron of the El Cerrito Trail Trekkers described a detailed Tassajara Park pilot plan, training programs, lists of tools and a waiver form, and said the group aimed to build paths at zero cost to the city. Brian Richmond, co-president of Trail Trekkers, said years of effort and repeated postponements have left volunteers frustrated: 'moving goalposts, moving goalposts,' he said.
Staff response and liability questions: Staff earlier told volunteers they could build paths but later emailed that additional legal and liability issues required further evaluation, which the volunteers said effectively paused the project. In public comments Steve Price cited the Ohlone Greenway volunteer effort in the 1990s as precedent for supervised volunteer work that used heavy tools and required close staff collaboration.
Council reaction: Council members expressed sympathy for volunteers and suggested creating clearer procedures and waivers, while noting the city must assess legal exposures and public-safety considerations. Council directed staff to treat vegetation-management ordinance language changes and to return with recommendations on codified requirements earlier in the meeting; volunteers asked the council to take similar concrete steps to enable the paths pilot.
Next steps: Volunteers urged the council to facilitate a pilot at Tassajara Park once staff and legal issues are resolved; staff has indicated it will work with public works and the city engineer on required plans, waivers and training requirements before any on-the-ground volunteer work proceeds.
