For 21 years, Joanne and John K’Miller have enjoyed walking their dog to their neighborhood park in Briargate and strolling around its pretty pond.

“Some neighbors go every day,” Joanne said. “People take wedding pictures there, and high school graduation pictures. It’s a scenic area.”

The park along Chapel Hills Drive near Criterion Drive isn’t just popular with dog-walkers and photo buffs.

“Grandmas take their grandkids down with a bag of breadcrumbs to feed the ducks that come through,” Joanne said. “We get a lot of ducks.”

So imagine her surprise recently when signs were posted around the park declaring “No Trespassing” and “Private Property.”

“Everyone is shocked,” Joanne said. “All the neighbors are talking about it. Everyone is upset. We want to know what’s going on.”

Turns out the scenic little park was never a public neighborhood park.

It is private property, owned by the parent company of La Plata Communities, which develops and manages subdivisions.

Doug Quimby, president of La Plata, said the pond is a historic, spring-fed water feature that for decades quenched the thirst of cattle roaming the ranchland that preceded the development of the sprawling 10,000-acre Briargate area in the 1980s.

Developers preserved the pond as a landscaping feature for the 435-acre Briargate Business Campus that surrounds it. And they hooked it into the city’s stormwater system, funneling drainage into it and installing an overflow outlet into a city culvert.

Developers expected it to be owned by the campus and taken care of by the Briargate Special Improvement Management District, which fixes fences and mows and waters grass along neighborhood medians, entryways and rights-of-way using money from a special property tax.

But the deed never was transferred to the campus, and the maintenance district never mowed or watered the park.

For most of the past 30 years, the owners association of the business campus has spent upwards of $10,000 a year to maintain the grass and sidewalks. The group even hired a lake consultant to keep the water in the pond properly aerated and algae-free.

The owners association and La Plata paid a bundle a few years ago on a complete overhaul of the park and pond.

But everything changed recently. The owners association board decided it would no longer maintain the park and pond. In April, it wrote La Plata of its decision and told the developer to take responsibility for the property.

“They maintained it for 30 years and we thought they had agreed to take title,” Quimby said. “Apparently they didn’t agree and here we are. We put up ‘no trespassing’ signs because we don’t want somebody to fall in the pond and get injured. That property is just a liability to us.”

Joanne reports the grass is 18-inches high, and the pond is starting to smell from algae.

Quimby said his company will do only minimal mowing as city code requires until it decides what to do with the park. He said he reached out to the city parks department hoping officials would recognize its value to the neighbors like Joanne and accept it as a gift in exchange for maintaining it.

“The city doesn’t have any interest in it,” he said. “It is reluctant to take responsibility for it.”

I wondered about language on the original 1984 plat that seems to designate the park and pond for upkeep by the “Briargate maintenance district.” Parks official Kurt Schroeder said the language was deemed vague because it doesn’t specify the “Briargate Special Improvement Maintenance District” and because it’s private open space, not public.

“I can understand the neighbors’ feelings,” Schroeder said. “It’s a nice little park. But our resources are stretched thin and we’re not in a position to accept responsibility for it.”

Quimby doesn’t know what his company will do, besides occasionally mowing the property and looking for a new owner.

“Our desire is that it remain open as a park,” Quimby said. “I guess we could replat it, rezone it and build something on it. But that’s not our desired option.”

Neglect is bad enough but redevelopment of the park and pond scares Joanne, who hopes someone at the city will intervene.

Hope emerged for a rescue late Friday. City stormwater manager Tim Mitros promised to get involved.

“I think we can figure something out,” Mitros said. “There must be some sort of partnership we can work out for the neighborhood and preserve it as a neighborhood amenity.”

So stand by, Briargate residents. Help may be on the way.

A popular seven-acre park and pond in Briargate, along Chapel Hills Drive at Criterion Drive, is seen on June 19, 2015. Developer La Plata Communities recently was forced to assume maintenance responsibilities for the property and wants to give it to the city. Neighbors are upset because it is now posted “No trespassing” and “Private Property” after decades of public use. Photo courtesy of Joanne K’Miller.

Bill Vogrin – Side Streets

A popular seven-acre park and pond in Briargate, along Chapel Hills Drive near Criterion Drive, is seen on June 19, 2015. Developer La Plata Communities recently was forced to assume maintenance responsibilities for the property and wants to give it to the city. Neighbors are upset because it is now posted “No trespassing” and “Private Property” after decades of public use. Photo courtesy of Joanne K’Miller.

Algae is growing in a pond that is part of a popular seven-acre park in Briargate along Chapel Hills Drive near Criterion Drive, as seen on June 19, 2015. Neighbors also complain the water is beginning to smell and grass is 18 inches high. Developer La Plata Communities recently was forced to assume maintenance responsibilities for the property and wants to give it to the city. Neighbors are upset because it is now posted “No trespassing” and “Private Property” after decades of public use. Photo courtesy of Joanne K’Miller.

“No trespassing” and “Private Property” signs have popped up around a popular seven-acre park and pond in Briargate along Chapel Hills Drive near Criterion Drive, as seen on June 19, 2015. Developer La Plata Communities recently was forced to assume maintenance responsibilities for the property and wants to give it to the city. Neighbors are upset because it is now off limits after decades of public use. Photo courtesy of John Shook.

“No trespassing” and “Private Property” signs have popped up around a popular seven-acre park and pond in Briargate along Chapel Hills Drive near Criterion Drive, as seen on June 19, 2015. Developer La Plata Communities recently was forced to assume maintenance responsibilities for the property and wants to give it to the city. Neighbors are upset because it is now off limits after decades of public use. Photo courtesy of John Shook.

Aerial photo of a popular seven-acre park and pond along Chapel Hills Drive at Criterion Drive in Briargate. Image courtesy FlashEarth.com.