Local News in Brief : Land Owner Must Keep Path

The Rancho Palos Verdes City Council decided Tuesday that Jacob Friend, who owns land next to Palos Verdes Estates, must dedicate a trail along a path that children have used for years on their way to school.

Friend, who has owned the lot at 7061 Crest Road for 16 years, denied that any trail exists and two years ago erected a wall to keep motorcyclists off the vacant land.

But a year ago the council amended the Trails Network Plan to include a pedestrian easement on the Friend property after neighbors signed a petition stating that the trail, which coincides with a utility easement, had been used for many years by children walking to schools in Palos Verdes Estates.

The council action requires Friend to dedicate the trail to maintain pedestrian access between the two cities.

On the other side of the boundary, the city of Palos Verdes Estates, which owns a road easement on the adjoining lot to the west, has not decided whether to dedicate a trail.