Guest Opinion: Stanford's trails are on the right path Guest Opinion: Stanford's trails are on the right path (November 03, 2004)

by Larry Horton

o local planning issue has produced more misunderstanding -- or more misinformation and confusion -- than the so-called Stanford-trails issue.

The Weekly's Sept. 29 editorial ("Stanford trails back -- still need work") doesn't help matters and, worse, is wrong in its facts and analysis. It suggested, for example, that the potential trail alignments analyzed in the recently released Supplemental Environmental Impact Report ("SEIR") -- the basis for the editorial -- do not satisfy the university's agreement to provide portions of trails consistent with the Countywide Trails Master Plan. It also criticizes some potential trail alignments as "glorified bike lanes."

Neither of these observations is true.

In 2000, the county and university agreed that Stanford would dedicate, develop and maintain portions of two trails that cross its lands, in locations specified in the 1995 Trails Master Plan. The so-called "S1" trail is "an alignment that follows Matadero Creek and Old Page Mill Road and is partially on a public road." The "C1" trail is an alignment that "generally follows the creeks [San Francisquito and Los Trancos] and Alpine Road."

In 2001, after extensive consultation with the county Parks Department, Stanford provided the county with more precise alignments for these designated routes. As specified, the trails are on the western and eastern peripheries of Stanford lands (along Alpine Road on the west and Page Mill Road on the east).

Contrary to the editorial, Stanford never "balked" at providing trails in the locations called for in the Community Plan and General Use Permit. Stanford did, however, not agree to consider trail routes that cut through the interior of its undeveloped lands -- a position with which the Weekly agrees.

The new supplemental EIR, which discusses only trails along Page Mill Road, confirms that two of the three alternatives it studied could satisfy the trail dedication requirement. One alternative (along Matadero Creek and Old Page Mill Road) is identified as an environmentally superior alignment. It runs along Stanford land until it reaches the jurisdictions of Palo Alto and Los Altos Hills, which are the entities designated in the Trails Master Plan to carry the trail forward from there.

A second option is set back approximately 50 feet along Page Mill Expressway, then heads up and over an undeveloped hillside before connecting to an existing trail at Arastradero Road. The supplemental EIR states that this trail "will offer sweeping views of the Stanford campus, the foothills and the western mountains and bay." These alternatives can hardly be described as a mere "fancy bike lane."

The editorial suggests that the proposed trail alignments do not satisfy the Countywide Trails Master Plan, but it never informs readers what that plan actually says about trails on private property. In 1995, Santa Clara County published a "Landowner's Guide to Trail Easement Dedications" to provide such an explanation.

It states, among other things, that when a trail is on private land, this typically "will mean placing the trail along property boundaries whenever feasible and/or in areas removed from the primary use of the land." It goes on: "Respect for individuals' use of their own property and fairness in accommodating the public good without placing an undue burden on property owners are basic tenets of successful trail development. Where countywide trails routes will be on or adjacent to private lands, considerations of land use, privacy, liability and due process will be of utmost importance."

The editorial also implies that it is unacceptable for a trail to be located in proximity to a road or street. Not true. The Landowner's Guide explains that one typical situation for routing trails is to place them adjacent to or in the road right-of way.

The County's Trails Guidelines provide that an optimum of at least eight feet clearance should exist between trails and automobile travel lanes where trails are located parallel to a road. Here, one trail option is approximately 50 feet away from Page Mill Expressway, except where it crosses Deer Creek and Coyote Hill Roads at signalized, pedestrian crosswalks.

In addition, safety barriers or plantings can be provided to separate trail routes located parallel to roads and streets. These guidelines have been applied in the supplemental EIR's analysis to ensure that each of the trail options along Page Mill Road conform to county policies.

Finally, it is not apparent that the implementation of sections of two trails on the edges of its land, as Stanford agreed to do, is widely experienced in the community as a "raw and unresolved issue with emotional polarization," as the Weekly suggests.

One might guess that most people would simply like to see some additional trails made available for new recreational enjoyment. The trails Stanford would like to dedicate and build will do just that.

Larry Horton is associate vice president and director of government and community relations at Stanford University. He can be e-mailed at lhorton@stanford.edu. A public hearing on the trails is scheduled Thursday, Nov. 4, before the county Planning Commission, 1:30 p.m., 70 West Hedding St., San Jose.

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