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Neighbor News

help save Mill Valley's Steps, lanes and paths

please sign the attached petition and save these very important public spaces.

In Mill Valley, our network of Steps, Lanes, and Paths (SLPs) are a vital community asset. They are used for hiking, shortcuts to schools and downtown, and emergency evacuation. The Mill Valley 2040 General Plan acknowledges that SLPs serve five important public purposes and mandates that “the City shall preserve and restore its network of steps, lanes and paths” and that “official abandonment of easements or rights should occur only in the most extraordinary circumstances and then only by vote of the City Council.”

What is happening to them now? In the past five years, the City of Mill Valley has failed to protect our SLPs. Private property owners have been allowed to build on, fence off, or block SLPs without public notice or City Council vote. Work has stopped on rehabilitating overgrown SLPs and only one SLP has been fully restored since 2011. A current City Staff report states that the staff does not know the public status of the priority SLPs listed in the 2008 Bike/Pedestrian Plan, nor the status of the new SLPs proposed to be added to the priority list in 2016. The same City Staff report also eliminates 65 currently open SLPs from the proposed City Maintenance list.
Why ask the City Council to adopt a resolution? The City Council must be held to its role as defender of public property rights and protector of our City’s assets. By adopting and recording a resolution that affirms that our SLPs are valuable public properties, and directs staff to protect them from encroachment, the City Council will preserve this valuable network now and for the future.

Find out what's happening in Mill Valleyfor free with the latest updates from Patch.

Find out what's happening in Mill Valleyfor free with the latest updates from Patch.

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