Ben Lomond dog walkers lose access to private road

It looks like the end of the road for dog walkers on Newell Creek Road in Ben Lomond.
Some dog walkers in Ben Lomond were miffed after the city of Santa Cruz informed them recently that it will begin to enforce more heavily no-trespassing laws on city property at the end of Newell Creek Road, which leads up to the back side of Loch Lomond Reservoir.
“We’re committed to discontinuing access to people who are down there that shouldn’t be,” deputy water director Terry Tompkins said last week. “Nobody is going to be happy with what you do, so we just try to do our best.”
A gated portion of the road has been a haven for dog walkers in Ben Lomond, who for decades would allow their animals to run free along Newell Creek in the mornings and afternoons, according to Ben Lomond resident Sara Keenan.
“It’s a peaceful and beautiful setting,” Keenan said. “There’s a babbling creek, and a bunch of us walk there with our dogs. One lady has been doing it for 30 years.”
Dog owners liked the spot because they didn’t have to worry about traffic, except the occasional car or truck from the four or five houses along the road.
But the Santa Cruz Water Department is ramping up signage and patrols of the area in an effort to increase security at Loch Lomond Reservoir, a main source of water for that city, Tompkins said. This is the latest move to increase security there since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the east coast.
“Everything is becoming more security-conscious,” Tompkins said. “Since 9/11, we have been expanding our security.”
In the past five years, the city has added electronic security in remote and isolated areas, and Tompkins said the increased enforcement by rangers on Newell Creek was just the next step.
Keenan said that complaints from a neighbor on Newell Creek stirred up the enforcement, something Tompkins denied.
“Over the years, there have been complaints from folks,” he said. “These recent ones are not the first.”
As part of its effort, the city will improve the metal gate that signals the start of the road, and city rangers will warn dog walkers to leave.
Keenan took an online petition with 120 signatures to the Santa Cruz City Council meeting Tuesday, July 13, and spoke to the council, but there was no action taken.
Tompkins said he hopes people will comply with the rangers’ requests, while pointing to the Loch Lomond recreational area as a place to walk dogs on a leash free of charge after 4 p.m.
“We hope we have enough staff to do this,” Tompkins said, noting that there have been no recent additions. “We don’t want to have to assign a ranger there full time.”