How the case of a six-foot fence in Contra Costa County led to a victory for [cycling] public-access advocates
Scott Mace
How the case of a six-foot fence in Contra Costa County led to a victory for public-access advocates
Cyclists celebrate after judge grants injunction in one of several Bay Area cases pitting landowners against public demands
Dave Hammond, 71, of Alamo, stands next to an iron fence that was
erected and now blocks a heavily used path in Diablo, Calif., on
Monday, Aug. 4, 2025. The path, which runs between Alameda Diablo
and Mount Diablo Scenic Blvd, has been used for many years by
residents and visitors to access Mount Diablo. A lawsuit was filed
to challenge the blockage, and a court ruled in favor of reopening
the path. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group)
Dave Hammond, 71, of Alamo, stands next to an iron fence that was
erected and now blocks a heavily used path in Diablo, Calif., on
Monday, Aug. 4, 2025. The path, which runs between Alameda Diablo
and Mount Diablo Scenic Blvd, has been used for many years by
residents and visitors to access Mount Diablo. A lawsuit was filed
to challenge the blockage, and a court ruled in favor of reopening
the path. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group)
By Katie Lauer | kla...@bayareanewsgroup.com | Bay Area News
Group
UPDATED: August 11, 2025 at 3:46 PM PDT
DIABLO — Across the Bay Area, fences divide more than property
lines.
They also pit public access issues against private property
rights, setting off protracted conflicts around the state, as
community members lash out against what they see as wealthy
landowners taking away the rights of other locals to enjoy public
areas by blocking pathways. Many of these fights end up in court,
the subject of costly lawsuits.
As the battle over public space rages on, cyclists in Contra Costa
County say they’ve secured a key win against a six-foot black iron
fence that inspired community ire two years ago when it cut off
access to a popular path connecting Mt. Diablo State Park to the
wealthy enclave built into the foothills.
View of a path in Diablo, Calif., on Monday, Aug. 4, 2025. The
path, which runs between Alameda Diablo and Mount Diablo Scenic
Blvd, has been used for many years by residents and visitors to
access Mount Diablo. A lawsuit was filed to challenge the
blockage, and a court ruled in favor of reopening the path. (Jose
Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group)
A Superior Court judge last month ordered that at least 2.4 feet
of that fence be removed before the first day of fall; the judge
agreed to restore the “last peaceable, uncontested status” to
allow cyclists, hikers, dog walkers, birdwatchers and other East
Bay residents to once again traverse a route that has for decades
linked the community of Diablo to the state park’s trails and
vistas.
Many say the quiet, private roads near the Diablo Country Club are
safer than Diablo Road, which lacks any shoulders, sidewalks or
bike paths to separate cyclists and pedestrians from fast-moving
motorists winding through Danville.
Dave Hammond, who started riding his mountain bike through the
easement in 1994, has spent nearly two years and a half-million
dollars fighting for public access to be restored. He said he had
no choice but to sue, arguing that the 6-foot fence created an
imminent, grave threat by forcing the community to use a more
dangerous route.
“Sometimes people who have money and who want their privacy try to
skew things to make it seem like they have a right to keep the
public out, when, in many cases, they don’t,” Hammond said.
Despite living a few towns over in Alamo, the retired hedge fund
manager is quick to point out each property, gas and sewer line
near 2354 Alameda Diablo where the fence was built — rattling off
facts and timelines he’s memorized since he and Hal Siebert, a
Diablo resident who lives on the east side of the cut-through,
sued two weeks after the fence’s installation over a September
weekend in 2023.
“I realized that there are not too many people who could tackle
it, not only from the standpoint of the research required, but
also the funding,” Hammond said, referring to the costs of public
access litigation, which has ensnarled Diablo for nearly a decade.
“This is a piece of cake — the law’s on our side,” the 71-year-old
continued. “There’s been this small group that have just tried to
gum up the works as much as they possibly could, but we keep
beating them back, and we keep winning.”
While many hillside residents embrace ways to sustain public open
spaces in their backyards, Hammond said, the pushback they’ve
faced mirrors many of the attitudes that have driven fierce public
access lawsuits in other picturesque communities across
California.
In April 2024, Marin County officials confirmed that the owners
of six ocean-facing homes in Stinson Beach violated local code by
cordoning off their properties with rope and posts, pushing for
residents to either remove or file permits for compliant barriers.
The California Coastal Commission slapped the Rio Del Mar Beach
Island Homeowners Association with a hefty $5 million fine in
December 2023, voting unanimously to penalize the HOA for its
colorful attempt to privatize a coastal pedestrian path along
Seacliff State Beach.
A San Mateo County Court judge handed a significant legal loss to
Silicon Valley billionaire Vinod Khosla last fall, denying Vinod
Khosla’s attempts to throw out a lawsuit from the California
Coastal Commission and the State Lands Commission, which sued him
in 2020 to force more public access to a scenic stretch south of
Half Moon Bay.
On a guided tour back in Diablo, Hammond recounts a flurry of
public records and legal documents tied to the gravel path’s
creation, including initial 1916 maps for a vehicle toll to the
summit, an offer of dedication for “hiking and riding” on the
25-foot-wide easement in September 1979, and four, nearly
century-old bollards and braided wire rope that still line the
since-rerouted road stub.
As the lawsuit waded through court, Hammond said support began
trickling in from Diablo residents and others in the East Bay.
More than 60 community members ultimately testified as part of
Hammond’s request for a preliminary injunction — arguably some of
the most compelling evidence in their case to remove the fence,
according to Judge Benjamin Reyes’ July 29 order.
Reyes said there’s a “significant likelihood of success” for
Hammond’s claims to prevail — largely due to the absence of any
genuine evidence disputing the “extensive use of the cut-through
for walking, hiking, horse and bike riding by Diablo residents and
the general public for decades, at least 30 to 40 years.”
Now, the clock is ticking for the owner of the property underneath
the controversial fence, who will have to restore the land to its
prior “status quo.” DeEtte Sipos has until the end of August to
remove a minimum of 89 inches of the fence blocking the
longstanding gravel path — a 30-day window triggered after Hammond
filed the $100,000 bond that was required as part of the
preliminary injunction.
The case is scheduled for its first trial conference Sept. 15.
Attorneys for several of the defendant parties did not respond to
requests for comment on the July 29 order, and no one answered the
door at Sipos’ home this week.
“(The defendants are) trying to make everybody believe this is
more complicated,” Hammond said. “There’s an awful lot of people
in Diablo that would like to enjoy their mountain and community —
walking to the post office and the country club, or biking to
friends’ houses and just enjoying where they live — as opposed to
fighting with each other.”
Originally Published: August 11, 2025 at 4:40 AM PDT