Guilderland Archives — The Altamont Enterprise, March 26, 2009
Grimm says
Signs posted to prevent liability
By Anne Hayden
GUILDERLAND — Long-time Guilderland resident Carol Charon has voiced concern over “Members Only” signs posted in the Stevens Farm neighborhood she grew up in, worried they were meant to keep people off of the public roads. Mark Grimm says otherwise.
Charon’s granddaughter was riding her bike to visit a friend in Stevens Farm, and reported to her grandmother that a man told her she couldn’t ride her bike on the road. Charon wrote a letter to The Enterprise editor, which ran in the March 12 edition, and questioned the purpose of the signs.
Grimm, a resident of Steven Farms since 2001, and president of the Homeowners Association from 2005 to 2008, told The Enterprise this week that the signs were put up on private property to keep non-neighborhood residents away from the pond located behind some of the houses.
“It’s a liability issue,” said Grimm. “We have kids from outside the neighborhood who go back there and play around, and we can’t risk one of them getting hurt on property owned by the homeowners’ association.” The three signs are posted in front of the small access paths that lead back to the pond, said Grimm.
Rodger Stone, a Guilderland codes enforcer, said he visited the development in 2003, shortly after the signs were put up, and spoke with the homeowners’ association to make sure the signs were in accordance with zoning regulations.