Sign torn down as fight over bike path intensifies

The destruction of a "No Bicycles" sign has escalated tensions in the dispute over a path through a gated community near Oakmont that is also a favored route of cyclists avoiding Highway 12.

The sign at the private Villages at Wild Oak community was sawed off and tossed in a creekbed over the weekend.

"Somebody's adamant," said William McClintock, president of the Villages homeowners association, which this month erected the signs prohibiting bicycles. "Hopefully it wasn't cyclists."

Christine Culver, executive director of the 1,000-member Sonoma County Bicycle Coalition, said, "I imagine the vandalism is a show of frustration from someone who feels powerless about the loss of access."

Santa Rosa police said Tuesday that the vandalism is under investigation.

The path, used for decades by pedestrians, horse riders and cyclists, links Channel Drive, a popular cycling route through Annadel State Park, to Oakmont. The Villages at Wild Oak is not part of Oakmont, and while it falls within Santa Rosa's jurisdiction, its 61 homeowners pay to maintain their own streets and the bridle path.

The homeowners association cited a rising number of near collisions involving cyclists and pedestrians in erecting the signs. Its members have met several times with cycling advocates and Santa Rosa officials to resolve the issue and come up with alternative routes.

The sign apparently was cut down between Saturday night and Sunday morning, following a Press Democrat news story that showed a photograph of the sign.

Santa Rosa police took a report and checked the sign for fingerprints Sunday morning, said McClintock, who met a police technician at the scene.

Cyclists, meanwhile, condemned the sign's destruction.

"Nothing will be gained from it," said Culver, who has praised the homeowners association's willingness to work toward a solution.

But for some cyclists, there also was evident frustration at the Villages at Wild Oak stance.

"They're not stopping horses, they're not stopping hikers, they're not stopping walkers, they're just stopping bicycles," said Robert Hastings, an Oakmont resident who said he has biked down the bridle path for 11 years -- and continues to.

He said the vandalism "wasn't called for and will only add fuel to the wound." But he also said that because cyclists have used the path for more than 20 years, they have established a legal right to continue to use it.

An update on the issue is set for Thursday's meeting of the city's Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Board at the Santa Rosa City Hall Annex.

You can reach Staff Writer Jeremy Hay at 521-5212 or jeremy.hay@pressdemocrat.com