Mercury News
December 14, 2005

Supervisors approve
Stanford trail plan
Controversy now moves to San Mateo County

By Lisa M. Krieger

The Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors approved Stanford University's plan to build trails along Alpine and Page Mill roads, ending their role in the five-year controversy — but shifting it to their neighbors to the north.

Before the university can build the proposed trail along Alpine Road in San Mateo County, it must get permission from that county and the town of Portola Valley, which have jurisdiction over the route. The trail would sit on Stanford and public land.

At their board meeting in San Jose, the supervisors voted 4-1 in support of the plan. The dissenting vote came from Supervisor Liz Kniss, whose district includes Stanford. She urged that the Alpine Road trail be rejected and the money be used instead for more general countywide environmental projects. Her idea received no support from her colleagues.

The trails stem from a deal made between the county and the university five years ago as part of Stanford's general use permit.

In exchange for permission to construct high-density housing on campus, the university agreed to do something friendly for recreation and the environment — specifically, build trails for hiking.

But the trails have become an emotional battleground.

The university does not want to build them through the interior of its property, saying that would interfere with future uses of the land. It would pay more than $8 million for the Alpine Road trail.

“On our land or not, we will pay for the construction of a safe and excellent trail,” said university spokesman Larry Horton.

Environmentalists say a 12- to 16-foot-wide asphalt sidewalk along a busy road, which would require removal of dozens of century-old oak trees, offers neither recreational nor environmental benefits.

Tuesday's vote was welcomed by Stanford officials, university residents and users of the Stanford Golf Course, who had feared that a trail would cross their fairways.

The trail proposal — costing $17.75 million to $19.25 million, to be paid by Stanford — won the endorsement of Santa Clara County Executive Pete Kutras. If the Alpine Road trail is rejected by San Mateo County and Portola Valley, the $8 million goes to Santa Clara County.

The plan dismayed environmental groups and Alpine Road residents of Menlo Park and Portola Valley, particularly residents of Ladera and Stanford Weekend Acres. They say they are considering legal action.

“Stanford has moved its obligation off its land,” said Jeff Segall of the Stanford Open Space Alliance.

Brian Schmidt of the Committee for Green Foothills said, “We are very disappointed,” adding that he believes the trail violates Stanford's general use permit and environmental laws.

The fiercest opponents are residents of Stanford Weekend Acres, an unincorporated part of San Mateo County that is one of the few spots behind Stanford not owned by the university. Built on Alpine Road in the 1920s as small summer of cabins, it is a tight-knit, private enclave of environmentalists, retired professors and creative thinkers, once home to the late writer Ken Kesey and where the Whole Earth Catalog was prepared for publication.

“Why should a mitigation agreement that Stanford has with Santa Clara County be placed on our land, in San Mateo County?'' asked Diane Schieno of Stanford Weekend Acres. “It will destroy the quality of our homes and our neighborhood.”

Down the road in Ladera Oaks, Rob Decker got 2,000 names on a petition opposing the trail. “No one in San Mateo County wants a massive sidewalk along Alpine Road,” Decker said.

Page last updated September 13, 2010.