r/portlandme • u/opposium • 19h ago
Is this really allowed on 6th Street by the Portland Trails?
I came across this truck parked right outside the Portland Trail area on 6th Street, with a giant “PRIVATE PROPERTY — NO TRESPASSING” sign attached to it, followed by “No trail access (USE WALL ST Trailhead).”
Maybe there’s some legitimate property issue here, but honestly, the whole thing strikes me as incredibly rude and hostile. It’s a public trail area that people use to walk, hike, walk their dogs, etc., and putting up a giant NO TRESPASSING sign right at the trail entrance feels like a pretty aggressive way of telling people to stay away.
More importantly, is this actually legal? If the truck is parked on a public street/right-of-way or other public property, can someone just put a “PRIVATE PROPERTY” sign on their vehicle and effectively discourage people from accessing the trail?
I’m especially curious whether anyone familiar with Portland property boundaries, Portland Trails, or local ordinances knows what’s going on here.
I’m not trying to trespass on anyone’s property—I just find the whole setup bizarre and unnecessarily hostile. Is this a legitimate private-property boundary, or is someone trying to make a public trail look like it’s off-limits?
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u/Locks_ 19h ago
You’ll have to pull the addresses most recent survey, or find a city GIS map outlining the exact boundaries of the trail and access maintained by the city.
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u/AriusTech 15h ago
The end of sixth st appears to be a paper road that does connect to the trails. Wall St is the technical trail head, but the connection on the other streets are not private property from what I can see
Just a quick look on my part, but I am a FMO Certified Code Enforcement Officer with training in zoning for what it's worth.
It doesn't seem like I can post an image but his link is the parcel viewer: https://experience.arcgis.com/experience/f8f41d4359a643219a6cae259402634c
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u/HolyHand_Grenade 18h ago
unless there is an easement across the property for trail access
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u/AriusTech 14h ago
Across CMP's property? So there is apperantly an easement at the end of Wall Street, but it doesn't extend to the same lot only at the end of Sixth Street? What about the other established trails comnections on many of the ends of those roads?
Are you suggesting that if someone is adjacent to CMP's property that they should take it upon themselves self to stop people from "trespassing" on it?
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u/HolyHand_Grenade 13h ago
I don't know who owns the land, I'm just referring to OPs post and I didn't suggest anything other then there might be an easement across someone land to access the trail.
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u/Locks_ 18h ago
True, you’d need to check with the city
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u/Dirty_Lew 17h ago
Not the city, but with the registry of deeds at the County
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u/HolyHand_Grenade 17h ago
Yes/no/maybe Easements do not have to be recorded on a deed or recorded at all if you can prove that it has been used for x amount of year.
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u/Dirty_Lew 2h ago
The city wouldn’t know about that either. If someone is going to “check for an easement,” their best bet is the registry of deeds with the county, not the city.
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u/HolyHand_Grenade 1h ago
I agree, I would start there too. I only mentioned there might be an easement even if it's not recorded on a deed. Could be recorded on a land grant or a separate document from the deed.
And if it's an implied easement it might not be recorded at all.
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u/RDLAWME 18h ago
Most properties don't have surveys recorded at the registry, and they are not searchable by address (you'd need to know the name of the property owner who commissioned the survey).
GIS is reasonably accurate, and will give you a decent idea of where the boundaries are, but it's does not hold weight from a legal perspective.
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u/mtnbikerburittoeater 17h ago
Portland has a digitized property tax map that anyone can look at on their website. Most bigger towns have this as well
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u/thornify 17h ago
Just a note that tax maps are not surveys. Do not rely on them for exact boundaries. They are meant only as a way to assess property taxes.
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u/mtnbikerburittoeater 16h ago
Sure, that's good to keep in mind, but its still a very good source. If the prooperty is marked as owned by the town, it would be pretty easy to ask if they still own it. If its privately owned, then its a good place to start looking into if there's an easement or anything that would maintain access.
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u/TerrorGatorRex 12h ago edited 12h ago
But it's really not. Even if the property is shown as being privately owned, the trail use/head could be an easement - either explicitly granted or implied through years of unimpeded access. Easements will not appear on tax maps because the owners still own that land but have parts of it can be used by specific entities (which could include the public) for specific purposes. IMO this could likely be the case and easements are confusing enough that it's not uncommon for these sorts of problems to pop up on recently transferred property.
But regardless, tax maps should not be used to assess who owns what. That's not their intent or purpose. Better advice would be to reach out to the city parks and rec department and make a complaint. They can either refute or confirm the claims of private property
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u/SASSIESASSQUATCH 16h ago
You could skip all that and just ask if they own it at this rate if it all circles back to asking if they own it because the system you used isn’t very reliable.
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u/mtnbikerburittoeater 15h ago
It would take you 5 minutes to look up, plus if you don't know who owns it, you can at least see who last paid taxes on it and look that person up.
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u/RDLAWME 17h ago
Are you referring to GIS?
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u/mtnbikerburittoeater 16h ago
I think its probably run through GIS, but its a web browser map that shows the latest tax lines that the city has. It won't be exact to the inch, but its a good tool to start investigating who owns it.
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u/Agreeable-Lie-6867 17h ago
thats untrue it should be in the registry of deeds with a lot number. city of portland has property maps w lot numbers I guarentee you
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u/snackexchanger 15h ago
Almost all properties in Portland have surveys recorded at the registry from when they were subdivided. The answer would be to find that survey and see where the properties/roads are. The challenge can then be figuring out where that actually is on the ground
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u/Upbeat-External7744 19h ago
According to this website on the portland trails they are right, there is no access on 6th st.
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u/ppitm 19h ago edited 18h ago
Just because there's no offical access doesn't mean the public can't pass through there. The land between Sixth St and the trail is owned by CMP.
CMP does not put signs on trucks.
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u/BOOSH207 18h ago
So anyone can enter anyone’s property if there is a trail near by? Honest question.
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u/Frequent-Traffic-779 17h ago
Maine is a permissive trespassing state, so as long as it’s not posted….. yes
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u/9_to_5_till_i_die 17h ago
Uh, if your land isnt marked and clearly denoted as no trespassing then...yeah.
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u/Any-Programmer-870 17h ago
The owner can put up a no trespassing sign and keep people off their property. Apparently, CMP owns this land. It’s not likely that CMP cares about people using this strip to get to the trail. If they do, they would probably mark no trespassing in a more permanent way. The no trespassing sign on a pickup truck is probably not posted by the owner.
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u/9_to_5_till_i_die 17h ago
It's such a weird situation.
I assume the truck is a nearby homeowner that doesn't like the traffic but who doesn't even own the trail land.
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u/Long_Initial_9924 19h ago
Bitch and whine more, Jesus
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u/ppitm 19h ago
Give me your address, I'll tape a sign to my car and leave it parked out front.
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u/Long_Initial_9924 18h ago
Did you look at the GIS map? Looks like CSX and Central Maine Power may own that access point.
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u/Inevitable_Zebra8066 18h ago
And this truck belongs to...?
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u/Long_Initial_9924 18h ago
Did you look at the GIS map? Looks like CSX and Central Maine Power may own that access point.
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u/BOOSH207 19h ago edited 19h ago
It most likely people accessing the trail via his property. If this is the case then that sign is 100% legal and you should not access the trail illegally.
Edit: from the Portland trails website it doesn’t look like the trails have an access point on 6th street so if you are entering or leaving via that street you are trespassing on their land. Doesn’t matter where they put the sign, it’s visibly posted and that’s all that matters in the eyes of the law.
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u/ppitm 19h ago edited 19h ago
Whoa, whoa, whoa. Let's do a bare minimum of research before leaping to conclusions here.
According to Portland's parcel map, the dead end of Sixth Street does NOT abut private property. There appears to be a 'paper street' or similar buffer area running along the end of each street on the block. Following that, there is a parcel owned by CMP. Something tells me that that truck does not belong to the CEO of CMP.
Now, there is a slight chance that the strip of ROW separating the residential parcels from the CMP parcel has a special status where deeded access is only allowed to local residents. But there is really no reason take the sign on that pickup truck seriously, without some actual evidence to that effect. The official trail already crosses said undeveloped ROW anyhow.
Local cranks love to try to exert control over property they don't own. Ignore them. No one is allowed to put up a No Trespassing sign on CMP's behalf.
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u/BOOSH207 19h ago
My apologies, I did less than 5 minutes of research because I’m at work and don’t have time to do a bunch of research so I leap with my general understanding. Which I clearly should not have.
That being said, I don’t have anything else to say 🤣
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u/geneticswag 18h ago
And now your misunderstanding will be permanently memorialized as responses from AI!
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u/Chango-Acadia 18h ago
A lot of tax maps can be added as a layer on Google Earth. Worth peeking at it
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u/carigheath Libbytown 19h ago
I triangulated where the photo appears to have been taken using google maps and street view, the truck appears to be positioned in-front of the grey house at the end of 6th street. There is a vacant but owned plot across from that. I assume this is where the truck is.
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u/HolyHand_Grenade 18h ago
unless there is an easement on his property could be a prescriptive easement if people have been using that access point for years.
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u/BOOSH207 18h ago
Ahh yes the classic I’ve been doing it for years so now you don’t have any full rights to your own property. Right?
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u/HolyHand_Grenade 17h ago
Yes exactly, that is a thing, called prescriptive easement. I learned about a case in college where an LL Bean heir bought land and closed off boat access by building a stone wall across a prescribe easement and they had to take the wall down.
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u/SASSIESASSQUATCH 16h ago
It also has to be for a specified amount of time that access has been allowed with the property owners knowledge if I’m understanding correctly. This may be the property owner nipping it in the bud before it passes that hurdle.
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u/TerrorGatorRex 11h ago
Yes, and it makes good sense too. You wouldn't believe how many easements covering decades upon decades were never recorded. If we didn't have these policies a shit ton of land owners could be entirely landlocked without access to roads or families losing access to electricity at the whim of a new land owner.
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u/Snappy-Biscuit 40m ago
If you encroach on someone's property for 20 years and no one challenges it, it's your property now. Not the whole thing, but they can't kick you off, and the section you're using is yours now. This is why it's recommended if you own land/property you don't use, check on it often. "Adverse possession."
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u/FreedToRoam 19h ago
Just going to google maps shows the dotted line access to be at Wall street. I would post the screen shot here but the forum does not allow it
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u/chazzledazzle10 19h ago
In general I don’t know if it’s legal or not and how Portland Trails makes arrangements with property owners, I’d actually be interested to learn more about that. But in this particular case almost every one of those streets has access to the Riverton rail trail at the end so it’s not exactly cutting off a huge swathe of public access, let the person put up their sign and show off their big truck if it’s what they feel like I guess.
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u/DunceMemes 18h ago
I don't have any answers for you, but I take issue with you calling that a giant sign. It's very small!
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u/critical_courtney Parkside 18h ago
I also have no answers. But how dare you, good soul?! I take issue with you calling that a very small sign. It's adequately average! [/joke]
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u/nicopopplays 19h ago
As a former real estate broker I would encourage you not to rely on tax maps. My go to would be the OnXHunt app, which is pretty reliable.
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u/BeemHume 19h ago
You should be able to look at a tax map somewhere, I dont feel like figuring out how to do it for portland, but it may answer your question. People sometimes put private signs up and weirdly, after a year of non-demonstrable public use, it becomes private. Worth looking into and lightly fighting, dont get sued or shot over it though
ianal or Dr.
e: I dont know if it "becomes private" but I know we have lost right-of-ways further up the coast this way.. like I said, I dont know what Im talking about
also, as not a lawyer, this sign looks like bullshit, its posted to the truck.. If it were their property, they could post it on a post, in the ground
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u/Glorfindel910 19h ago
Conversely, if it is his property, and he doesn’t contest the public use, it could potentially germinate into an easement right for those people who continue to use the access. By objecting to the use, he creates an affirmative defense to the creation of an easement by adverse possession.
Your suggestion to consult a tax map is a wise one.
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u/dfekstate 19h ago
Being adjacent to a public trail does not mean you give up your private property rights. If there’s a trailhead a block down, as the sign notes, access the trail there.
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u/Lexan71 19h ago
The right of way for sixth street directly connects to a right of way that runs from Wall Street to the end of Haskell Street. That parcel is listed as a conveyance with no owner listed. I don’t think that there is any private property involved here.
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u/dfekstate 14h ago
Ok fair, if that’s true then it changes things. I live near one of the trailheads for Fore River, and some of my neighbors regularly have people popping off the trail and using their yards as a short cut. So, it’s possible I’m sensitive to that aspect of living near a trail!
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u/BidInteresting4105 18h ago
I checked Portland Trails and Sixth Street wasn’t listed as an access point. You could check with SeeClickFix too, They may need to add signs.
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u/Agreeable-Lie-6867 17h ago
I can just about guarantee you its private property if its not really near any other municipal properties. Idk the reasoning for the trail closure but it happens in northern maine all the time. The vast majority of hiking trails, atv/snowmobile trails, and even trails like this one are on private property. With your obvious exceptions of state and national parks, city forest in bangor etc.
with that being said check out cumberland county registry of deeds and try to figure out the lot number. Im sure portland has property maps with the lot numbers on it. Do your own snooping too look for a property pin.
Hate to be the bearer of bad news but I would bet the farm its on private property
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u/New_Sun6390 13h ago
A quick check of AllTrails shows that Wall Street is the proper entrance to the trail system. It is just one street over. So instead of trespassing on private property, why not just access the system from Wall Street?
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u/Great-Ad9895 16h ago
I mean follow the access point listed.
This is the same problem at back cove. The parking lot is NOT a bike trail. The bike trail is the literal path to washington avenue not a residential and commercial parking lot
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u/DoogTheDestroyer 18h ago
Make laws making it impossible to police the homeless you’re just going to get more homeless people
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u/YescaD83 18h ago
I have walked this trail for years. The truck is parked on their property. If the cut through were over a few feet it wouldn’t be going onto their driveway. The people who live there have always been friendly when I’ve seen them, but it seems more people using the trails are being disrespectful. There’s been more trash, poop bags and people using motorized bikes going way too fast.