About the Land Use Agreement Process

This document was developed by Hanne Smith Heintz, Land Access Coordinator for the Trails for Rossland Society (Phone: 250-362-2218; E-mail: heintz@netidea.com). While the information directly relates to TransCanada Trail development, much of it pertains to general trail development where legal access to private land is required.

Working with the Owner(s)
Call each owner (or write and then call) and arrange a time to meet with him/her individually to discuss the agreement. Allow enough time for a thorough question and answer session. Don't press them. Some owners may be ready to sign an agreement right away, many more will need to think about it for a while, and in that case you will have to follow up by phone and go see them again. You will find it helpful to have the following with you at your first meeting: A sample of the agreement template; a copy of the Occupier's Liability Act; information on insurance and experiences of owners on other trails; your reference map showing where the trail passes through the owners neighborhood. Have an extra couple of blank agreements in case the owner is ready to sign on the first meeting. In that case, you can print the owners name and legal information on the first page.

Remember all the comments about attitude in the Landowner Relations section of the Tool Kit. This whole thing works if we respect the landowners and work with them towards management solutions. Remember also that the owners often are the best ones to suggest solutions to management problems such as limiting vehicle access. The request for access will NOT work, however, if the owner feels pressured, threatened, confused or irritated by your approach. One sure-fire way to irritate a landowner is to imply that you'll put the trail through regardless of their thoughts and feelings on the matter.

Finally, if an owner flat-out refuses to give access, you must respect their wishes and bow out gracefully. Don't take it too hard - given time and persistence it is usually possible to find another route.

If you obtain an agreement, promise only what your group can deliver. For example, it may not be realistic to promise that everything the owner wants will get done, but it may be realistic to say that you'll put their reasonable requests into your work plan so your group can budget for it, raise money, find materials and work crews, etc. A reasonable position is that your group will do the best it can to deliver a well-managed trail within a time frame that is realistic for a volunteer group.

Signing the Agreements
The owner: Must be signed by legal owner(s). Check the data sheets (assessment roll data or title) to be sure you know who all the owners are before the signing.

The witness: This can be the volunteer from your group, or another individual. A witness must be 19 years or older, and not related to the owner. The witness' street address must be printed legibly… Since we must be able to find the witness if the owner ever claims he/she didn't sign the agreement, common sense dictates using a witness who is likely to live at the same address over the term of the agreement.

The director: Once the owner(s) and witness have signed, pass both originals on to your group's director for signing. (Any elected director may sign.)

The date: The owner or witness must write in the date of the owners signing.

Copying the Agreements
Start with two originals. Get original signatures from all required people on each. One of these originals will be returned to the owner, one will remain with your group. Just in case of fire or other disaster, your group may want to make a third copy and store it in a separate place.

The Maps Associated with the Agreements
Draw route of trail through property onto map of reasonable scale. Copy and attach to each original.

Keeping Records
Filing the agreements: Set up one file folder per landowner. If you use the type of file which has tabs on the left, you can attach the agreement and any other legal info on the left, then leave loose copies of correspondence or notes in the "body" of the folder. If you are extremely organized, include a disk copy of any computer-written correspondence also.

Keeping track of when agreements expire: Develop a record keeping system that will allow your group to keep tabs on the agreements over time. An Excel file that will allow to you sort for expiration dates or paper records which include a column for the expiration date will do - as long as they are accessible and easy to check.

Planning for the Future
Plan for enough volunteer time in the year requiring most renewals. Our guess is that renewals won't take as much time as the original agreement. You may want to send the owners a new agreement form, then follow-up by telephone and set up a time for signing. In any case, you'll have to plan for the volunteer hours required to keep the agreements in place over time.