December 2017 - Parks & Recreation - 26
L AW R E V I E W
Adverse Possession Claims in Parkland
By James C. Kozlowski, J.D., Ph.D.
I
n many instances, the boundaries between public parkland and surrounding
private property are not clearly delineated. Over time, some private landowners
have had a tendency to encroach on an adjacent public park through seemingly
innocuous landscaping activities, like mowing the grass or planting a garden.
Whether innocent or intentional, such encroachments on public parkland constitute
a trespass to land and are subject to immediate removal at the expense of the neighboring private landowner.
As governed by statute in a given jurisdiction, an open, notorious and hostile
trespass to land over a specified period
could give rise to a claim of adverse possession by a private landowner against a
neighboring property. However, as a majority rule, adverse possession does not
apply to the state and its political subdivisions, including public parklands. In
the cases described herein, private landowners argued unsuccessfully that their
continued and ongoing encroachment
into adjacent parkland over a long period somehow gave rise to a claim of legal
ownership via adverse possession.
24
Parks & Recreation
Private Landscaping in Public Parks
In the case of Band v. Audubon Park
Commission, 936 So.2d 841 (La.App.
7/12/2006), private homeowners, the
Bands, claimed ownership through adverse possession of property within a
public park. When the Bands purchased
the property in 1981, they recognized
that there were visible encroachments
on the property that intruded into
Audubon Park. These intrusions into
the public park included a brick patio
and a light metal fence within a 10-foot
by 30-foot area.
In 2003, Audubon Park Commis-
| D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 7 | W W W. PA R K S A N D R E C R E AT I O N . O R G
sion (Audubon) began correspondence
with the Bands and other residents, informing them that their property was
encroaching onto Audubon Park property. Audubon presented the homeowners with alternatives, including allowing them to sign a lease for the property
or to remove the encroachment. Ten
of the affected homeowners agreed to
one or the other of the alternatives.
The Bands, however, declined either
alternative or instituted proceedings
against Audubon, alleging ownership
of the property under various theories,
including acquisitive prescription, i.e.,
adverse possession.
The trial court granted Audubon's
motion for summary judgment. In the
opinion of the trial court, Audubon
Park was a " public thing " and not susceptible to being acquired through prescription, specifically adverse possession. The Bands appealed.
December 2017 - Parks & Recreation
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