Palo Alto Online News
Updated December 13, 2005

Supervisors support
Stanford trail plans

By Don Kazak and Jay Thorwaldson

Stanford's proposed trail plans to link to the foothills were appoved by a 4-1 vote by Santa Clara County's Board of Supervisors Tuesday afternoon in spite of sometimes impassioned pleas from residents along the northern trail route in San Mateo County.

But the supervisors adopted a last-minute compromise offer from Stanford University: If in five to seven years the northern trail along Alpine Road is not built, the $11.2 million that Stanford has committed to pay for it would revert not to Stanford but to the Santa Clara County parks department.

Supervisor Liz Kniss was, as expected, the lone opposition vote to the approval of the package deal that linked approval of a southern trail along Page Mill Road in Palo Alto to the northern trail along Alpine Road.

An alternate proposal by Kniss — that the northern trail alignment be rejected and the $11.2 million go straight into a special fund in the parks department — failed to get a second.

Several dozen residents attended the 1:30 p.m. meeting, many wearing bright green pocket stickers reading "No Alpine Sidewalk." About 40 put in cards to speak, running the public testimony to two hours.

In a letter, the Palo Alto-based Committee for Green Foothills stated it believes the agreement on the northern, or C-1, trail violates Stanford's 2000 general use permit (GUP) relating to dedicating easements for trails and state environmental-review guidelines. The committee "reserved the right" to litigate, the letter said.

County Manager Kutras reported to the board at the outset of the meeting that "we have diligently pursued other options" to the C-1 trail alignment.

"This agreement brings final compliance to the GUP condidtions we have been waiting five years for," he said. The board's action to accept the trail alignment incorporated acceptance of the plan as completing the conditions for the GUP approval in December 2000.

SM County supervisor has trail doubts

Stanford University’s proposed Alpine Road alignment for a connector trail/bike lane to the foothills may have serious environmental and safety problems that could preclude it ever being built, Supervisor Rich Gordon of San Mateo County is warning.

“We’re talking about a very sensitive area” because of its proximity to San Francisquito and Los Trancos creeks, Gordon said of the controversial proposal — scheduled to be considered Tuesday at 1:30 p.m. by the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors, meeting in the county building, 70 W. Hedding St., San Jose.

Opponents of the Alpine Road alignment are expected to turn out in force for Tuesday’s hearing — including residents of the small residential area along Alpine Road known as Stanford Weekend Acres, part of the area known as Happy Hollow.

“I think this is a very problematic area for a trail,” Gordon told the Almanac weekly newspaper, which covers southern San Mateo County communities.

The total cost of the Alpine Road trail (the C-1 route) and a separate trail along Page Mill Road in Palo Alto (the S-1 route) is approaching $20 million, Stanford and the county disclosed in a report released last Wednesday afternoon. That estimate does not include construction cost inflation or future maintenance.

Both trails were required of Stanford as part of the impact mitigations for approval of its general use permit, or GUP, in December 2000 — which allows Stanford to build up to 2 million square feet of new academic space and 3,000 housing untis. The trails were supposed to be built within a year, and Larry Horton, Stanford’s director of government and community relations, said his notes indicate the initial cost estimates were in the $2 million range.

Stanford also is insisting that the southern and northern trails be linked in a package approval — which has been strenuously opposed by Liz Kniss, the supervisor representing northern Santa Clara County. But she was outvoted 4-1 in an earlier conceptual vote by the supervisors referring the matter to county staff.

Stanford has offered $8.4 million to San Mateo County if it builds the trail within five years, which could be extended to seven. If the trail is not built, the funds would revert to Stanford. The funds would pay for extending a wide, paved trail from its current terminous just east of Rural Lane off Alpine Road westerly to the Portola Valley town limits.

Gordon — who was quietly briefed by Stanford on the trail plan in early September — warned that the plan would require a full environmental impact review, which could result in an even higher cost for the trail.

“I haven’t a clue” about the ultimate cost, he said.

But he said he is aware that the Regional Water Quality Control Board is increasingly requiring setbacks to keep development away from creeks. Santa Clara County also is working on an ordinance to increase setbacks from creeks, known as “riparian corridors” in wildlife-habitat terminology.

“I don’t know if we’d be allowed to build a permanent trail beside the creek,” Gordon said.

In addition, it was disclosed last week that Stanford has offered $2.8 million to Portola Valley to cover the cost of the trail and any improvements that would be needed to Alpine Road.

Portola Valley Mayor Ed Davis told the Almanac he was caught by surprise by the offer — disclosed late last week in a Santa Clara County planning staff report. He said while there have been informal discussions between Stanford and some Portola Valley officials over several years there has been no formal offer.

“It’s been like watching grass grow,” he said of the trail process. He said he is not excited about the trail route but is glad Stanford is offering to pay for the cost of a trail.

Stanford has also offered $1.05 million to Los Altos Hills to pay for a trail link along Arastradero Road from where it passes under Interstate 280, and the remainder of the route (just south of Page Mill Road from Foothill Expressway to Deer Creek Road and over the Ramos Ranch horse pasture area, leased from Stanford) would cost an estimated $7 million. At Deer Creek Road, the trail would split, with bike lanes following Deer Creek Road to Arastradero Road and a hikers-only unpaved trail climbing over the hilly site and bending south to the Arastradero/I-280 overcrossing.

Horton maintains that Stanford never agreed to putting trails across the interior of the Dish or Felt Lake lands when it committed to conditions for approval of its general use permit (GUP) in 2000.

“We agreed to trails on the periphery,” he said.

But he said Stanford may consider one alternative: moving the trail across Alpine Road where it comes close to the residential areas and their driveways onto land owned by Stanford, then having it cross back.

Some residents have put out signs reading, “A deal is a deal,” and have created their own anti-trail Web site: www.Nosidewalk.com. An un-named resident paid for a television commercial during the recent Big Game (viewable on the Web site and produced by Roanoke Co. of Menlo Park). The commercial emphasizes the 28,000 cars a day that reportedly use Alpine and follows the “deal is a deal” theme.

One resident said Sunday that he expects a heavy turnout of 20 to 30 people to attend the Santa Clara County supervisors meeting Tuesday from his immediate neighborhood alone.

Building the two connector trails was a key condition of the county's approval in late 2000 of Stanford's development plan for the next decade or longer, known as the general use permit or "GUP." But Stanford has strenuously maintained it will not allow dedicated trail routes to be built within its Dish or Felt Lake properties, as those areas may someday be needed for academic expansion.

Opposition to the Stanford alignments has been voiced by environmental organizations, the City of Palo Alto and the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District, among others. Environmentalists, who also fought the university fiercely over the GUP, are expected to again voice their opposition Tuesday.

Despite the cost and opposition, Horton said he believes the agreement with Santa Clara County "is a very fair resolution of something that has gone on for a long time." He said if it is approved by the supervisors, the Page Mill/Ramos Ranch trail "will be open within 12 months," assuming permits are granted.

He said Stanford will issue formal offer letters to San Mateo County, Portola Valley and Los Altos Hills assuming the supervisors approve the trails plan, as expected on Tuesday.

"I believe that when all this is finished that it will be seen by all who use it as a significant and positive recreational amenity," Horton said.

Santa Clara County Manager Pete Kutras, who has taken a personal interest in the trail decision and planning-staff report, told the Weekly that if the northern trail is not approved within the five- to seven-year time frame the funds would revert to Stanford and the commitment would expire. Kutras had taken a helicopter tour of possible alternate routes for Alpine Road route (known as C-1) and walked the area twice.

"The risk is if any one of those jurisdictions (San Mateo County or Portola Valley) decide they don't want to do the trail," he said.

In reaching the conclusion to follow Stanford's preferences, Kutras said he and county planning officials "looked at a number of alternatives" in San Mateo County.

"One was, for lack of a better word, too deep (into Stanford lands) and not agreeable to Stanford," he said. Another alternative would have put the trail too close to Los Trancos Creek in some places, intruding on the riparian habitat and likely disqualifying it from getting approvals by environmental regulatory agencies, Kutras said.

Kutras said he believes the route does qualify as a connector trail despite its close proximity to Alpine Road — parts of which may have to be rebuilt to accommodate the trail and shore up two areas where the creek threatens to undermine the road.

Horton said the trail link would be cantilevered out over the creek in some areas. During an electric-cart tour of the completed trail section for the Weekly and Almanac, Horton confirmed Stanford has spent "more than a half million dollars" on engineering work by Brian-Kangas-Foulk (BKF) for both trail alignments.

Page last updated September 13, 2010.