+Grapu etal Posted April 21, 2003 Share Posted April 21, 2003 I went to a nice little park in my township over the weekend. I found a couple of nice spots for potential caches. My first inclination was to just go ahead and place a cache. It was my first cache and thought I would to the permission route. I called the township today and discussed my request with the head of the township cousel. I gave her the geocaching web site and discussed geocaching briefly with her. She asked me a question that struck me as a bit strange - she asked what the benefit to the park would be. I responded in two ways - I told her about Cache in/Trash Out and that it was a great way for other people to discover the park as I had. She was very nice and stated that she had to put this past a few people. I just got a call from her saying that she could not approve me placing a cache in the park because their legal council stated that there were numberous legal issues that they would need a statement of indemnification, proof of insurance etc, etc, etc. Now I feel like I have three or four options: 1) Place the cache anyways. 2) Put a proposal before the Township Council 3) Forget the whole thing 4) Vote Libertarian I am still inclined to go with option #2 but wanted to get some feedback as to what should be in the proposal especially given the fact that the only concern they voiced were legal in nature. Link to comment
+Renegade Knight Posted April 21, 2003 Share Posted April 21, 2003 What are the legal issues involved with having a park to begind with? A playground? A trail? If they are thinking with their lawyers they are not thinking on behalf of the public. They can't not control who goes into the park, nor can we control who visits our geocaches. The benifit to the park is that it gets more visitors who use the park for a public use. More park visitors means more support for the parks. More support for the parks means better job security and more and better parks. You can always show them the form that says you cache at your own risk that is a link from each cache page. You can also add whatever wording their lawer wants to the cache page. As for indemnifications. That's just funny. ===================== Wherever you go there you are. Link to comment
+GeneralBracket Posted April 21, 2003 Share Posted April 21, 2003 quote:Now I feel like I have three or four options: 1) Place the cache anyways. 2) Put a proposal before the Township Council 3) Forget the whole thing 4) Vote Libertarian I am still inclined to go with option #2 but wanted to get some feedback as to what should be in the proposal especially given the fact that the only concern they voiced were legal in nature. I'd go for 1 and 4. Of course they'll say no. If they said yes they would in essence be accepting liability for any mishaps that might happen relating to your cache. Thier councel will always take the safe road and recommend a decision that avoids any liability, regardless of the extent. You've really done them a favor in allowing them to disapprove. Now any mishaps that could come from your placing a cache can be placed directly on your shoulders. I'm not completely sure what type of park you're talking about, but the tone seems to be a public city park with playgrounds and baseball fields and such (as opposed to a wilderness park with mountains covering several square miles). If this is the case, place the cache and ignore them. In such a case I doubt I would have even tried to ask. Just make sure the container doesn't resemble some sort of explosive device. Whatever the case, a good rule of thumb is to just read the park rules and stay within your best interpretation of them. Don't go nuts trying to get approval for something so trival. Not to say your cache is trivial. You know what I mean. Link to comment
+The Leprechauns Posted April 21, 2003 Share Posted April 21, 2003 From your list of finds, I see you live in Ohio, which is generally considered to be geocache-friendly. The State Parks know about geocaching and allow it, so do the Cleveland Metroparks. In some cases, the parks sponsor the caches rather than permitting individuals to place them. That's worked out well. You may want to point out to the Township and their lawyer that the professional land managers in their state are generally cool with geocaching. Why does *this* township need an indemnification and proof of insurance? Do they ask that of everyone who enters the park? Here in Pennsylvania, we recently succeeded in having an indemnification clause dropped from the State's official permission form. The State's lawyers determined, rationally, that geocaching does not pose any greater inherent danger than other permitted activities. Good luck with your cache, no matter which route you choose to pursue. x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x .sdrawkcab dootsrednu tub sdrawrof devil si efiL Link to comment
+TEAM 360 Posted April 22, 2003 Share Posted April 22, 2003 In my opinion, a cache is there for the use and enjoyment of others, just like the swingsets or slides that are found in every park in the world. (And caches are a lot less dangerous.) GeneralUrsus is right, of course they will say no, given the chance. If they don't have an official policy on it, I would go ahead and place it. Public land, after all. Just my opinion. Link to comment
+Grapu etal Posted April 22, 2003 Author Share Posted April 22, 2003 Thanks for the input. I am going to go ahead and place the cache and we will see what happens Link to comment
+9Key Posted April 22, 2003 Share Posted April 22, 2003 Hi there, If it helps, you can download a nifty informational presentation about geocaching on this page. You may also request a CD of the updated and even better presentation. If you have a broadband connection I'll give you link to download this file - shoot me an email. Both presentations give a postive overview of geocaching to the uninitiated. They have worked wonders for dealing with the various land managers here in Texas. Link to comment
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