Stanford offers to pay $11.2 million for trail in San Mateo County Stanford offers to pay $11.2 million for trail in San Mateo County (December 14, 2005)

** Santa Clara County supervisors will likely OK the plan this week.

By Marion Softky

Almanac Staff Writer

Stanford is so resistant to routing new recreational trails over its own open lands that it is willing to pay $8.4 million to San Mateo County, and $2.8 million to Portola Valley to build a trail along busy Alpine Road in San Mateo County.

On Tuesday, December 13, at 1:30 p.m. in San Jose, the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors is expected to approve two trails that were required as a condition for approval of a new general use permit (GUP) in 2000, allowing the university to add some 5 million square feet of new building on campus.

In total, Stanford is prepared to pay $20 million, or more, to build the two trails. A county staff report issued December 7 recommends approval of both trails and finds Stanford in compliance with the GUP.

While the S-1 trail around the south and east side of campus has had environmental studies and is ready to go, the C-1 trail around the north and west faces strenuous opposition from a coalition of groups that think Stanford should meet its commitments on its own lands in its own county. They support an alternate alignment on Stanford's side of San Francisquito and Los Trancos creeks, which form the county line.

Stanford never agreed to trails across its interior lands, insisted Larry Horton, Stanford's director of government and community relations. "We have said repeatedly, we will not agree to internal trails. We agreed to trails on the periphery."

Opponents from the Stanford Trails Coalition plan to be out in force at the showdown hearing. Barring a surprise, the supervisors are likely to repeat a 4-1 vote last September, when four supervisors bent to Stanford's insistence that approval of the C-1 trail be linked to the S-1 trail.

North County Supervisor Liz Kniss voted against the linkage then; she still opposes it. "Although the multi-use trail to the south of Page Mill Road is very desirable as mitigation for the General Use Permit," she said, "the sidewalk trail along Alpine Road in San Mateo County is completely unacceptable to me."
San Mateo County

San Mateo County and Portola Valley are likely to be faced with a fait accompli when Stanford presents them with formal proposals in January.

They can take the money and accept the trail, or they can refuse the trail -- and the money.

"We're talking about a very sensitive area," said San Mateo County Supervisor Rich Gordon. "I think this is a very problematic area for a trail."

The $8.4 million that Stanford is offering to the county would go to two major problem areas along the section of the proposed trail from the Menlo Park city limit, past the freeway and Ladera, to the Portola Valley town limit.

For the area by the old summer home community known as Stanford Weekend Acres, Mr. Horton proposes moving Alpine Road away from the busy section punctuated by driveways, where signs are sprouting saying "A deal is a deal," and "nosidewalk.com." This section carries some 28,000 cars a day on average that whiz by the bicycle lane proposed for a multi-use recreational trail.

Since Stanford owns the land across the road, it would move the road far enough away into the hill to provide room for a safe trail, Mr. Horton said. Stanford has already spent half a million dollars on engineering studies of the Alpine Road trail, he noted.

West of the freeway, Los Trancos Creek curves within a few feet of Alpine Road in two places, and threatens to undermine it in a major flood. Mr. Horton proposed that Stanford could armor the creek and cantilever the trail over the creek in a manner similar to the recently completed intersection at Junipero Serra Boulevard and Sand Hill Road.

Supervisor Gordon questioned whether the amount offered by Stanford would cover the cost of moving the road and fixing the creek. He warned the project would require a full environmental review, which might result in a project that was even more expensive. "I haven't a clue," he said.

In the case of armoring the creek, Mr. Gordon noted that the Regional Water Quality Control Board is increasingly requiring setbacks to keep development away from creeks. "I don't know if we'd be allowed to build a permanent trail beside the creek," he said.

In Portola Valley, Mayor Ed Davis was caught by surprise at the offer of $2.8 million to accept the trail. While Stanford has had some informal contacts with people in Portola Valley over the years, there has been no formal offer, he said. "It's been like watching grass grow."

Mr. Davis was cautiously positive about the offer. "We'd prefer some other location," he said, "But we do appreciate Stanford's offer to pay for the trail."

Under the proposed agreement with Santa Clara County, Stanford will keep the offer to San Mateo County and Portola Valley open for five years, with a possible two-year extension.

What if San Mateo County or Portola Valley refuse the trail?

Santa Clara County Manager Pete Kutras told the Palo Alto Weekly that if the northern trail is not approved within that time frame, the funds would revert to Stanford and the commitment would expire.
MEETING

The Santa Clara County supervisors' public hearing on the Stanford trails is set for 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, December 13, in the supervisors' chambers in the county building at 70 W. Hedding St. in San Jose. Check AlmanacNews.com for breaking news.

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