Mercury News
December 8, 2005

Trails dispute finally
is coming to a head
County to Issue Recommendation

By Lisa M. Krieger

The long journey of the Stanford trail dispute may be nearing its end, with the release today of a long-awaited recommendation of two routes, totaling four miles, by the Santa Clara County executive.

The divisive process has taken five years to get to this point — twice as long as it took the Lewis & Clark expedition to hike from St. Louis to the Pacific Ocean, then back home. And the project won't be cheap. The two hiking trails will cost Stanford $700 to $1,500 per foot.

Nor does it promise a cease-fire between environmentalists and university officials. The Committee for Green Foothills, county Supervisor Liz Kniss and others strongly oppose the proposal and will urge its rejection.

The next step is a discussion, and perhaps a vote, on the recommended routes by the board of supervisors on Tuesday.

“Coming to an agreement that pleases everyone is a rarity,” County Executive Pete Kutras, who wrote the recommendation, said in a statement. “However, there are significant elements of this agreement that benefit the public, and the entire agreement brings us closer to completing trail routes outlined in the Countywide Trails Master Plan.”

The trails are required by a general use permit granted to Stanford in 2000, committing the university to a long-term growth plan. In exchange for being able to add 5 million square feet of buildings, Stanford agreed to more than 100 conditions. One of them was the construction of two hiking trails.

The most disputed part of the new recommendation is the proposed trail that runs along Alpine Road, from Interstate 280 to Arastradero Road, ending near the Alpine Inn Beer Garden in Portola Valley.

The side of Alpine Road, a busy thoroughfare, is no place for hiking, said Committee for Green Foothills legislative advocate Brian Schmidt. Moreover, Schmidt contends the trail does not comply with the agreement or the Countywide Trails Master Plan.

“Stanford said it would dedicate an easement — this is already dedicated land,'' he said. ``It is unacceptable. It is just a route on a busy road.”

In the recommendation, Kutras acknowledged that one trail departs from the route proposed in the Countywide Trails Master Plan. That plan proposed a trail near San Francisquito Creek, away from roads. But to skirt three existing sites — a golf course, tree nursery and equestrian center — the trail would have to run within 50 feet of the creek. This was unacceptable for environmental reasons, he wrote.

“An alternative would be to move the trail to the interior of the campus, rather than near the creek, but Stanford does not wish to consider an interior alignment for this trail,” he wrote.

Stanford's Larry Horton said the permit included a requirement “to build trails on the periphery of our lands, and we agreed to do that. We did not agree to do interior trails on our land,” he said. “It limits future uses. If we decide, 50 years from now, that we want, for instance, to put a biology department there, we can't.”

Horton called the proposed trails “a very fair resolution of something that has been going on for five years.”

Specifically, the report proposes the following:

• A paved route that starts along Page Mill Road, then turns into a dirt route that cuts across a corner near the 800-acre Page Mill Pastures, connecting to a corner of the city of Palo Alto's Arastradero Preserve at Arastradero Road. In a related route, two bike lanes would be built along Deer Creek Road. This one-mile route would cost Stanford approximately $8 million and would be completed one year after an agreement is finalized.
   
• A paved or dirt route, either new or renovated, along Alpine Road, subject to the agreement by the town of Portola Valley. This starts at Alpine near the campus. The three-mile route, which would cost $11.2 million, would also involve some stream restoration. If approved, it would be completed within five years after an agreement is finalized.

Page last updated December 8, 2005.