JANN HENDRY/Acorn Newspapers BARRIER ERECTED—Hikers wishing to use the Conejo Open Space trailhead on Hillcrest Drive and Old Conejo School Road will find the entrance closed because a fence has been installed. A fence is preventing hikers from accessing a favorite trail because a developer quit working on a project at Hillcrest Drive and Old Conejo School Road.

The developer tore up the hillside then quit working, leaving a partially graded, environmentally injured landscape that the city now requires to be fenced for safety.

And it will stay that way until somebody someday develops the private property, said Kristin Foord, Conejo Open Space Conservation Agency manager.

"The problem is the developer went into foreclosure, putting that land in limbo. It's on hold because of the economy," Foord said.

The next developer will still be required to give COSCA the open space and trail, but when that happens is anybody's guess, she said.

"In the economic condition we're in a waiting and holding pattern. We can't always predict what's going to happen," she said.

"The city is requiring a fence around (the property) for safety reasons," she said.

So the chain-link fence is there to stay until development begins again.

Meanwhile, COSCA has put up a sign on the trail to let hikers who access it from other areas know there is no longer an outlet at that site.

The trail is supposed to be a better one when—and if—it's all completed.

—Nancy Needham