Privacy for adjoining neighbors First and foremost of importance to the success of the river walk is insuring that neighbor’s privacy is respected and protected, especially those who have donated an easement on their river frontage to make it available for the river walk users.  This may be handled in various ways depending on neighbors specific concerns.  County ordinances prohibit any building within 200 ft of the river, or within the 100-year flood- plain, which ever is furthest from the river.  This separation of buildings from the river frontage is important.  It is obvious that the river walk will be as close to the bank of the river as possible still maintaining safety and prohibiting riverbank erosion or destruction, but usually within 50 ft of the river.  Thus, a built in minimum 150 ft buffer (which will have its undisturbed plant growth) will always be between the river walk and any homes. The river walk will be clearly defined with split rail fencing along both sides and wood chips lining the footpath.  Periodic signage will indicate that the river walk does cross private property, and that protecting landowner’s rights and privacy, protects the public access to the river walk.  If the aforementioned feature of the river walk does not meet safety and privacy concerns, then more specific means of doing so may be required.  It would be a pity to have to employ such extreme measures as chain link fence to insure no trespassing on private property, but that would be a possibility.  Most golf communities and other private/public interfaces have not required such extreme measures.  After all, who would walk a 5 ½ mile walk to steal a television set, then have to walk back 5 ½ miles not knowing if a security volunteer was just around the corner, rather than parking in the subdivision allowing a quick and undetected get away.   Other specific possibilities exist to insure the security of the river walk.  As proposed, there would only be one access point to the river walk.  This would be at Heritage Park.  Heritage Park is a gated park with parking and bathroom facilities.  As the park develops, there could even be more regulated access to the river walk.  A volunteer manned access point is a possibility.  This possibility may develop as river walk usage increases and technology increases.  The GPS technology mentioned earlier could not only provide a method of locating specific features of the river walk, it might also be utilized to locate river walk users in cases of security breach or even in health emergencies.  A simple walkie-talkie might provide some of these capabilities, but more sophisticated technology could be implemented to locate individuals if necessary.  Having people sign in or leave drivers license information are also possibilities, but every increase in utilization of such technology decreases somewhat the free and natural condition of the river walk experience.  Many parks and other areas of public/private interface have never had any security issues.  This issue may be revisited anytime an issue arises.