Obstruction in a Pedestrian Easement

[jsga]

My question involves real estate located in the State of: CT
I and others have a deeded pedestrian easement for ingress and egress across a neighbor's property from the road to the water. They recently purchased the property and removed the stairs to the water last fall (which had been there for over 15 years), so now one has to scamper over the rocks to get to the water. This easement is 10 ft wide. They recently erected a 5" diameter pole, about 4 feet high in the middle, close to the embankment. I am not yet sure what that is for, but it looks to be a venting pipe for some construction and drainage they have put in. They also regraded their pedestrian easement area so it slopes towards their house and discourages use. There is an adjoining 10 ft easement, owned by another neighbor, running parallel to theirs, also for the benefit of several people, so that other owner will be putting in stairs to get to the water. Still, we wonder if planting a pole in the middle is an obstruction and is it okay as we thought the whole 20 feet must be left open.

Thank you

[budwad]

I don't think that a 5" diameter pole or pipe on a 10' wide pedestrian easement sufficiently impedes the use of the easement. However, it should not have been placed on the easement. The removal of the stairs is more significant.

Have you asked the neighbor what their intentions are about the stairs? Maybe they were removed for construction reasons and they intend to replace them.

[jsga]

We believe they removed them because they are reconfiguring the easement to look less like an easement, to discourage people from using it. With the pole, I'm concerned the area will "enlarge" as there appears to be landscaping going in around it. They haven't spoken to me or the other easement holders in months and they have ignored our written inquiries. I know they bought the property knowing it had an easement, but maybe they figured they could lessen its impact by treating it less like an easement. Also, because this is 10 feet right at the water edge, anything put there also impacts the view. I know this is not the purpose of the ingress egress easement, but having nothing on it keeps the view clear