Above: view from upper loop of Smith Court Trail, 2016
Protecting and preserving our hiking trails |
Facts about Timber Cove Pedestrian easementsThe official recorded maps of the Timber Cove Subdivision are the official documents relating to our property lines, easements, and roads. The Subdivision Map, recorded March 5, 1965, was key in Clements & Company achieving permission to move forward with the Timber Cove development, and it stands as the Legal Document Of Record. The combination pedestrian, equestrian, and public utility easements (P.U.E.) are recorded on these maps.
See Timber Cove Subdivision Maps. In 2015 TC Trail Supporters undertook a volunteer pre-survey of the trail easement official monument markers to save time and TCHA money spent during the professional survey of our pedestrian easements by Adobe & Associates in 2016. These working maps are useful in locating the easements recorded on the official subdivision maps. Blue arrows indicate missing monument markers. See Work Copies of Pre-survey Maps These pedestrian easements are also cited in the Timber Cove Homes Association’s Covenants, Conditions, and Restrictions (CC & Rs), Clause VIII. And it is important to note that the Timber Cove Homes Association is mandated by this article to maintain these trail "easements" as well. The TCHA is given authority to assess money for the cost of this maintenance in Clause XI, item 8 a & f. Read Covenants, Conditions, and Restrictions (CC &Rs) Clause VIII The deed for every property in the Timber Cove Subdivision refers to the original subdivision map and it is also important to note that these same maps showing the easements are listed as "Exhibit A" of the Legal Description on every Title Report for all properties purchased in the Timber Cove Subdivision. No other type of property description has ever been offered by the title companies. Typically, each title report will list the following under the "Legal Description": Easements, recitals, setbacks, and other matters affecting that portion of said land for the purposes stated thereon and incidental purposes as shown upon the filed map referenced in the legal description herein, RECORDED 3/5/1965, BOOK 103, PAGE 11. Sample Property owners who have pedestrian easements on their property will find them listed individually under the Legal Description "Exhibit A" on their Title Reports, usually with the following language: Easement(s) for the purpose(s) shown below and rights incidental thereto as delineated or as offered for dedication, on the map of said tract......Purpose: Pedestrian, Equestrian and Public utilities. Affects: Rear 10 feet. Sample Another document that independently describes the private pedestrian easements in the Timber Cove subdivision is the "Final Subdivision Public Report" by the Department of Investment, Division of Real Estate, State of California on March 26, 1965. (See section under "Title") In each of nine subsequent amendments to this review, the easements are again affirmed. The last dated amendment is March 1992. See all Final Subdivision Reports and Amendments. Liability for Property Owners Property owners who have trail easements on their property are protected against liability. See several source links below concerning liability. Find out specifically about HOA liability for trail easements. Find out more about liability. California Civil Code 846 concerning liability for recreational trails. California's Civil Code also describes the law regarding trail easement maintenance. California Civil Code - 845 |
current Trail issues |
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View from upper Smith Court Loop trail 2015, Timber Cove Inn at left.
With the success of its grassroots campaign to save the trails, Timber Cove Trail Supporters is transitioning to its proper place as just one element of the larger community improvement issues encompassed by the Timber Cove Foundation.
Timber Cove Foundation Mission The Timber Cove Foundation is a 501(c)(3) organization founded in February 2017 by a group of concerned and engaged citizens to facilitate community improvements. It was originally established to provide financial support for activities related to forest management, fire abatement, and water resources development for the geographic area of Timber Cove, Sonoma County, California. Additional goals of the foundation are to promote the improvement, maintenance, and safety of Timber Cove easements, including the private hiking trails through the forests and coastal areas of our community for the benefit of all residents, and to promote social interaction, dialogue, and cohesion by supporting community events. The Foundation can facilitate other board approved community improvements by accepting targeted donations for specific projects to address emerging needs in the community. Background The challenge to our hiking trails dates to about 2006, when at least two property owners began erecting "No Trespassing" and other obstructive signs on one of the most scenic Timber Cove pedestrian easements, the Smith Court Loop. The epic battle to save the trails began in 2014, when one of the property owners who had posted the prohibitive signs (Defendant 1) moved to have the easement on her property legally "vacated", the technical term for removal. A grassroots group, Timber Cove Trail Supporters, began to form to protest this elimination of the trail. Using unethical and possibly illegal methods, Defendant 1 and her supporters managed to take control of the Timber Cove Homes Association (TCHA) Board of Directors in late 2017, and soon after began a disinformation campaign by publishing false statements about the legality of the trails, harassing and slandering trail supporters, and slandering the titles of property owners by publishing disinformation to real estate agencies, including it in escrow documents. They came into office with the stated intention of dissolving the TCHA in order to get rid of the CC&Rs that mandate maintenance of the pedestrian easements. This website first appeared in 2018 in order to counter the disinformation campaign and slander emanating from the TCHA board of directors. From 2018 to 2022, Timber Cove Trail Supporters waged a court battle against several property owners, led by Defendant 1, who used the TCHA to attempt to eliminate Timber Cove's entire six-mile private trail network. First filed on October 2, 2018, there were several actions, the most important being Declaratory Relief and Quiet Title to settle the controversy on the legality of our trails. The First Amended Complaint for SCV263251was filed on February 7, 2019, and after many delays caused by COVID and Defendant 1's attorney, the final Judgement of the Sonoma County Superior Court in our favor, validating our trails, was filed on May 9, 2022. Although the court case successfully established the legality of the trails, the anti-trail faction still in control of the TCHA stubbornly continued its disinformation campaign, publishing more erroneous legal opinions and refused to honor the judgement. The board approved expenditures of $20,000 of homeowners' dues to continue defying the court ruling. They and their affiliates also continued to harass trail supporters, making false reports to County and State regulatory agencies to try to stop any work on the trails. In October 2022 a trail supporter's car was seriously vandalized on a quiet Saturday morning at Fort Ross School during a Timber Cove County Water Board meeting. Finally in March, 2023, those who plunged the community into turmoil and caused such great expense began to resign from the TCHA board. This was a clear indication that their purpose in serving had been to remove the trails. They attempted to replace themselves with like-minded appointees. The same people who came into office in 2017 as local libertarians intent on removing the TCHA and its restrictive CC & Rs and the community-owned trails, by the end of their term were strictly policing the community, recommending large fines for violating the arbitrarily selected CC & Rs that they embraced. (See outcome below) The main authors of the TCHA trail disinformation campaign, John Gray and Robert Leichtner, still retain control of the Timber Cove County Water District board. In April 2023, trail supporters finally re-opened the beautiful, approximately two-mile long Smith Ct.-Umland Trail. For the first time since 2006, Timber Cove property owners were able to use the trail unimpeded and they continue to do so. See our Archives section for the chronological history of our struggle to save our private pedestrian easements in Timber Cove from 2014 to 2022. More current local issues affecting our community are below. 
Above: Signs of Another Time: This work of art was once targeted by the TCHA. It was twice vandalized by unknown parties.
Current Community Issues and News January 2024 Signs of This Time: pictured below are signs recently approved by the TCHA. This is Harriette Court, which is a privately maintained road, not a "private drive" (driveway). Harriette has always been open to traffic in the same way that Umland Circle, Lee Drive, Ruoff Road, Davis Way, and every other cul de sac are. Like all of our private roads and easements, Harriette Ct. belongs equally to, and may be used by all property owners in the subdivision, and we collectively pay for its maintenance. By law these roads must be left open to all city, county, state, and federal agencies, etc. and their employees. Prior to 2017 the TCHA mandated that all signage be consistent with the beauty and natural environment of Timber Cove. Wooden street signs were understated and "No Trespassing" signs were strictly forbidden. Starting in 2018 the new TCHA board began to manufacture its own unattractive "No Trespassing" signs, and encouraged all members to post them. Most of us refused. [Note: our analysis is based on wording contained on the Cover Page of the Timber Cove Subdivision Map. 
February 2024
The John Sperry and Umland to Smith Ct. trails continue to be open and used despite several blockages of fallen trees and branches during the recent severe storms. We thank property owners along the trail for informing us of these blockages and helping to maintain the trails on their properties. We plan new work days this year for April 20 & 21, 2024. We will be restoring the trail easement segment from Rust Ct. to Umland Circle. Watch for more information about times and location on our "Home" page. The TCHA board's attempt to levy large fines on members for violating an arbitrary selection of CC & R restrictions did not receive a quorum at the October, 2023 vote count. President Cindy Culcasi extended the vote to January, 2024, hoping to pass the measure with a quorum. The vote count in January, just barely reaching a quorum, rejected the proposed monetary fines overwhelmingly. Since most of the TCHA meetings in recent years have been at special executive sessions and the members do not have access to minutes of those meetings, it is difficult to interpret what is transpiring. Recent notices indicate that TCHA board members Cindy Culcasi, Joseph Bettencourt, and Rosemary Gorz have all resigned. New board members Alexander Kramer and David Levine have been appointed to fill two of the vacancies. [Note: Alexander Kramer's July 2024 Candidate's Statement states that he served on the TCHA legal committee for two years before he was appointed to the board in February 2024.] This would indicate that Mr. Kramer advised the behavior of the board since early 2022, including resisting and misinterpreting the Superior Court's favorable judgement on the trails in May 2022.] Remaining on the board are Aaron Weber (recognizes the legality of the trails), Keith Thompson (avowedly anti-trail), Jennifer Greenstein (declines to state), and Richard Mogford (has offered to help us with the trails going forward). April 2024 Another Lovely Trail Restored! On the weekend of April 20 & 21, 2024, volunteers and workers not only completed the new creek trail connecting Umland Circle to Rust and Hudson Drive, but also managed to clear almost all of the storm damage on the two miles of the Umland-Smith Court trail. Watch for more information in our next Timber Cove Foundation newsletter in June and see photos our Project Progress page. July 2024 The TCHA is holding elections for three seats with only three candidates. The two new board members, both attorneys, David Levine and Alexander Kramer, are running. As we mentioned in our February installment above, they have not been vetted on the subjects of trails or fire abatement. Alexander Kramer's Candidate's Statement states that he served on the TCHA legal committee for two years before he was appointed to the board. This would indicate that he advised the behavior of the board since early 2022, including resisting and misinterpreting the Superior Court's favorable judgement on the trails in May 2022. The third candidate is none other than Robert Leichtner, who finally resigned in May 2023 after six years on the TCHA board. Leichtner authored many erroneous legal statements about our property titles published in escrow documents, court documents and elsewhere, made slanderous personal statements at public meetings, and authored libelous accusations published by the Timber Cove Homes Association from 2018 to 2023. Mr. Leichtner abandoned his fiduciary duty to the welfare of the TCHA membership by publicly advising Defendant 1 and 2 during the trial to save our pedestrian easements. He did everything in his power to take away Timber Cove property owners' rights to the pedestrian easements. You will find Mr. Leichtner's antics fully documented on our Archives page. October 2024 We are already making plans for our next Trail Work Days in April 2025. Our new project is a trail long used by residents that follows and crosses Cemetery Creek. It connects Umland Circle to two locations on Ruoff Drive and Bufano Court. We have had a special request from Gabriella and Yarrow Drake for this trail and they have generously donated $1,500 to start us off. We need a total of $4,000 to complete this project. Please help us reach that goal. See a map of the Cemetery Creek Trail. As regards the TCHA elections, they went exactly as they have gone since 2018. The majority of property owners refused to vote for the slate of three candidates for three open positions, despite numerous exhortations from the TCHA. Out of 214 members, 81 votes were received by the August general meeting. Of those, 12 voted without choosing any of the candidates, and the TCHA invalidated 5 others. Because of the Bylaws jerryrigged in 2019, this count was allowed to stand at the September session. Even with no competition, no candidate garnered over 63 votes. May 2025 On May 3 and 4, 2025, volunteers and paid workers opened the majority of the newly restored Cemetery Creek Trail that links Umland Circle to two outlets on Ruoff Road. Each trail in our community has its own character and beauty, some with challenging terrain, others with breathtaking views. Cemetery Creek Trail, central in our subdivision, is easy, quiet, contemplative--just perfect for quick forest bathing in the middle of a busy day. See our Project Progress page for photos. Our sincere thanks to the donors, workers, and volunteers who made this restoration possible including Gabriella and Yarrow Drake, Caitlin Gerdts and Joshua Gruber, John, Cleone, and Cyrene Howland, George and Lisa Melo, Susan and John Williamsen, Ruth Marshall, Roger Simpson, Wes Edell, and for a second tour of duty, Carlos and his Crew! On a less happy note, the Timber Cove Homes Association board recently announced two resignations, Richard Mogford and Robert Leichtner. We regret Mr. Mogford's resignation, as he was a good board member and more recently helped with the pedestrian trail on his property. The TCHA announced that there will be three open positions in the next election. The published minutes of TCHA meetings are months behind and rarely accompany the minimal cookie-cutter agendas. Special executive meetings, closed to the members, seem to be held more often than general meetings, and have no published minutes. Therefore it is difficult to discern TCHA activity and most of its real business is conducted covertly. With no fewer than three practicing attorneys on the TCHA board, directors approved an expenditure of $15,000 to engage the legal firm Miller, Starr, Regalia of Walnut Creek to evaluate the TCHA's legal obligation to maintain Timber Cove's private roads. The issue of roads was generally discussed at the January and April meetings and unanimous approval of the expenditure made on May 10. A movement to abandon the TCHA's obligation to perform private road maintenance and improvement is advocated by Defendant 1 and Robert Leichtner, the authors of so much slander and libel against former TCHA board members and broadcasters of legal disinformation about the pedestrian easements. Both live on a County-maintained road and won't be affected by this action. In opposition is John Gray who participated fully in the bombastic disinformation campaign that cost the community hundreds of thousands to defend property owners' rights to the walking trail network. Because Gray lives on Lee Drive, a road that will require over $100,000 to repair, he is now at odds with his former associates over private road repair. No money for road maintenance or improvement is proposed in the new TCHA budget, but $25,000 is proposed for legal fees. This is reminiscent of the board's expenditure of $20,000 for the same legal firm in 2022, seeking to shirk their duty to maintain the pedestrian easements that were validated by the courts. That money would have financed the entire trail network restoration. The legal firm, Miller, Starr, and Regalia may cost the property owners $45,000 at minimum. So far it has not revealed anything that the Trail Supporters did not publish a decade ago. We wonder if there is a connection between this firm and any past or present TCHA board member? Maintaining and improving Timber Cove's private roads is one of the only useful or constructive functions the TCHA has performed in recent years. Removing or reducing this obligation will negatively affect a majority of property owners and will cause our property values to plummet. This might also impact our pedestrian easements negatively in the future. Timber Cove Foundation president John Howland attended the May 28, 2025 TCHA meeting and reports that there were only four speakers during public comment: Robert Leichtner (also representing Defendants 1 & 2), Defendant 1, John Gray, and Kris Kilgore. Leichtner and Gray were typically combative and bombastic. Defendant 1 stated that she has put up a website to present "unbiased" information about Timber Cove's private roads. We recall Defendant 1's other newsletters and Facebook page, "Timber Cove Neighbors," during the trail controversy in 2015-2018, which you may read about in our "Archives" section. John Howland, who owns properties along the county-maintained Timber Cove Road, wrote the following official communication to the TCHA board regarding private trails and roads. August 11, 2025 It is with a heavy heart that I report that the same small group of property owners that has bedeviled our community since its arrival in the early 2000's, is continuing its seemingly unquenchable thirst for fomenting needless controversy and monetary cost to our community. Although it is difficult to read, all of the documentation for the summary below is contained in the Archives section of this website. These same characters are once again claiming center stage for their outsized egos and selfish agendas. Instigated by Defendant 1, the current disinformation campaign about the responsibility of the TCHA to improve and maintain roads in Timber Cove mirrors the efforts of John Gray, Robert Leichtner, Russell Wells, and Ron Case to strip away property owners' rights to the private pedestrian easements. In fact the pedestrian easements appear in the very same documents, in the very same clauses, as the private roads and share an identical legal foundation! For more than a decade they have been doing Defendant 1's bidding and have only recently found themselves polarized because of their divergent personal interests about private roads. Defendant 1, who is now running for a seat on the TCHA board along with her supporter Russell Wells, has a long history of fomenting dissension in Timber Cove. Soon after she arrived, Defendant 1 coveted the large parcel adjoining her new property, and in 2005 blocked her neighbor's very legal access easement across her property. The elderly neighbors were left with a landlocked parcel and reportedly spent $150,000 in legal fees to defend their rights before giving up and selling their property to Defendant 1. Defendant 1 then attempted to eradicate the pedestrian easements on her parcels by seeking a TCHA board position along with her neighbor and friends, engineering the approvals she needed by 2014. When Timber Cove Trail Supporters stood up to defend the property owners' rights to those trails and regained the TCHA board, those approvals were rescinded. However Defendant 1 hired two attorneys to write letters to the TCHA claiming that the trail easements were invalid. Those letters and fruitless mediation efforts cost the TCHA $13,834.94 from 2014 to August 2016. When the anti-trail group used unethical tactics to gain a TCHA board majority in 2017, they also hoped to dissolve the TCHA itself. This was to assure the eradication of the pedestrian easements for Defendant 1. In their first year in office, money wasted on legal maneuvers and ill intent caused them to overspend their budget and get the TCHA insurance canceled. John Gray and Robert Leichtner than went ahead on their own, apparently without legal advice, and executed an emergency property owner assessment of over $800 per parcel in 2018 without a member vote and with no legally valid reason. They bullied those who rightly refused to pay and have not allowed them to vote to this day. There was no lawfully defined emergency. The recently published legal Memorandum letter from Miller, Starr, and Regalia confirms that this 2018 emergency special assessment was illegal. The money was also used by the board with John Gray as treasurer for illegal purposes, like paying attorney fees to create new gerry-rigged Bylaws in 2019 that diminished property owners' voting rights and outlawed write-in candidates for the board. When John Gray and Robert Leichtner led the TCHA disinformation campaign against the pedestrian easements, forbidding property owners to use them, Trail Supporters were forced to mount and win an arduous, privately funded legal action to defend the property owners' rights that cost $200,000. These same TCHA board members, including John Gray and Robert Leichtner, approved another $20,000 for attorneys Miller, Starr, and Regalia to find a way around the costly Sonoma County Superior Court ruling in favor of the Trail Supporters and the pedestrian easements in 2022. Now the TCHA has allocated $15,000 more for the same law firm to respond to Defendant 1 and Robert Leichtner's disinformation about the maintenance of private roads. By my estimate, Defendant 1 and her various supporters have cost our community $398,835 in private and public funds, while creating senseless, unproductive, and destructive controversies for their own benefit. This does not count the non-conforming TCHA property assessment in 2018 which cost every property owner over $800 per parcel. It also disregards the fact that this same group has improperly spent down the TCHA Road Reserve account so paintakingly gathered by former TCHA directors, and have also spent down the reserve account of the Timber Cove County Water District. How much more money, time and trouble shall we allow this group to waste and cause before we take the reins and resume a rational course that focuses on the common good? September 2025 The Timber Cove Foundation Mission Statement (see above) is ambitious. We strive to represent the welfare of the entire community, regardless of unit designation, economic status, or political persuasion. Yet there are times when an issue arises that threatens the well being of the community and we must take a stand. That happened in 2014 when the community’s deeded hiking trails were attacked by a small group who eventually took over the Timber Cove Homes Association board of directors in late 2017. Their actions necessitated an expensive, privately funded lawsuit. Although not all of our readers are under the purview of the Timber Cove Homes Association, actions by that agency can affect all Timber Cove residents, just as the attempt to eradicate the walking trails affected all property owners. Some of the same characters who initiated that governmental attack on our trails in 2018 are now at work trying to dissolve the TCHA itself and privatize the maintenance of all private roads in the subdivision. The very same clauses in the very same documents that establish the legality of our pedestrian easements also establish the legality of our private roads, and mandate the maintenance of both. We believe that the dissolution of the TCHA and the abandonment of its obligation to maintain private roads will adversely affect the great majority of Timber Cove residents and will adversely affect property values throughout the subdivision. The law firm, Miller, Starr, and Regalia, recently hired by the TCHA at a cost of at least $15,000, produced a Memorandum to the TCHA It incorrectly states on page 2: Approximately 75% of the Community’s lots (the “Interior Lots”) rely on private interior roads for access, while the remaining 25% of the Community’s lots (the “Exterior Lots”) access their properties directly from public roads and do not use or rely on the interior private roads... This is not true. Architect John Howland calculates that only 6% of Unit 2 property owners are not dependent upon access from private roads. Therefore any action to abandon road maintenance would adversely affect 94% of property owners in Unit 2, and lower the property values of 100%. The underwhelming Memorandum mentioned above restates much of what Timber Cove Trail Supporters have published since 2014 regarding these issues. And its description of the restrictions imposed on assessments by the Davis-Stirling Common Interest Development Act confirms that the Emergency Special Assessment of over $800 per parcel imposed by the TCHA in 2018 was in fact illegal. What the Memorandum does not convey is the political, legal, and logistical nightmare that would result from a collection of private road associations or some sort of voluntary property owner funding mechanism. Inequities would inevitably develop and the only redress offered by California Civil Code 845 is to sue your neighbors for their fair share of maintenance and upgrading. The only sector that would benefit from such a scenario would be lawyers, who have already benefited enough from the Timber Cove community. We therefore oppose the dissolution of the Timber Cove Homes Association and the privatization of road construction, upgrading, and maintenance. Further, we endorse only the following candidates for the TCHA board of directors in the upcoming election: Christine Carner Akasha Barickman For more detailed information about the documents that support our private roads and pedestrian easements see the top of this page. The references that apply to our pedestrian easements also apply to our private roads. Hannah Clayborn Timber Cove Trail Supporters |