From:
To: City Council
Subject: Does out staff and consultant have experience in trail development? Date: Sunday, November 17, 2024 1:15:31 PM
Attachments: Evaluating a neighborhood, 20 questions.tiff (Zillow survey)
The top two things people look for in a neighborhood.
_________________________________________________________ Dear Council
Does out staff and consultant have experience in trail development? No! Three excellent trail projects have been barely shown to the public plus hidden in the draft Active Transportation Plan. The Trail Head Park is not shown anywhere. Ask them to finish their job.
These projects where shown to City staff and the Consultants early on in the the process with large clear maps and a trail tour. Why were they not shown in the ATP. The best answer I got was private properties were involved.
Private property use is typical for trails. All four multi-use trails in and around Sebastopol have incorporated private properties This includes Sebastopol's 1/4 mile branch trail off the Joe Rodota Trail to Morris which are on four private properties.
Joe Rodota Trail
West county Trail
Laguna Wetlands Trail
Sebastopol Morris St Trail link
Sebastopol's current Master Plan and the new ATP both clearly state these documents are a "vision, and objective.” Not a ready to go project. No project is. The Plan asks for neither cost or a time table as a consideration. You put in the detail time on a project after after you adopt it in the Plan. However, for these three trails much of the detail work has been done.
Many details of the routs have been worked out, owners contacted, with most of them having signed letters of agreement.
Unfortunately the City will likely not get a ton of emails from the community about these trails. Why? Because staff and the consultant did not display them in any public presentations. (They were offered presentation material early on.) The draft APT leaves out the Trail Head Park entirely. The other two trails are shown pages behind the projects section. They are on an unreadable map accompanied only by a long list of requirements that go far beyond the scope of the ATP. And no other comments about them. Staff says they could not show trails going on private propertied. Did they ask owners who signed letters? They would have said OK.
Consultants showed no interest in the letters. What about the 80% of these trails on public property.
These consultants have not done their job. Ask them to do their work; to look at the trails to see if the pieces fit together, review the letters of agreement, assess how the trails would serve the community, and include these trails, show them clearly so you can get comments and place them with the other projects.
Lynn Deedler
Since this trail was left out of the ATP I am adding information about the two trails that you may not know about.
Trail Head Park
This 33 acres at the end of Palm Ave can create a nexus for seven existing and planned trails in and around Sebastopol. It would connect them all together at this location. It would be on beautiful acreage overlooking a vast Laguna view. It feels like another world, however it is only a half of block away from Hwy 116. County Open Space District and the Park Department consider the area a high priority purchase. Currently Linda Hopkins has a staff person looking into the purchase of this land and I know there is a fair chance the owner will sell. It could be accessed from the end of the Joe Rodota Trail and the end of Palm Avenue.
The Rodota connection requires only modest improvements on City owned properties. This needs to get in our Master Plan. This opens up additional funds from the County. The land has potential park opportunities that can match Ragle Park. The multiple trail connections may create a draw well beyond Sebastopol. It is attractive even in the winter and awesome the spring.
Gravenstein Trail
This trail would extend through the Trail Head Park, then back into Sebastopol and behind El Coronel Restaurant and to the Lynch stoplight on Hwy 116. This can provide an off road path to town for residents on Lynch, Fiercest and Elphick Roads. Private residence have agreed to the trail and El Coronel. No responses from the large open parcel going into the Laguna. If this trail were in the ATP future development could be required to accommodate the trail. A trail arm can branch to the Blossom Hill Road stoplight.
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