October 12, 2005

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Palo Alto Online

Helicopter used to inspect Stanford trail routes

by Jay Thorwaldson

Santa Clara County Manager Pete Kutras was set to get a birds-eye view of disputed trail alignments along Alpine Road and over Stanford foothills land in a sheriff's department helicopter Tuesday.

The overflight and a planned on-the-ground hiking/golf cart tour of the area are the first indications the county is taking a serious look at alternatives to an alignment immediately adjacent to Alpine Road, strongly favored by Stanford.

The flight and tour will include Supervisor Liz Kniss, who represents northern Santa Clara County.

Kutras -- assigned by county supervisors Sept. 13 to negotiate with Stanford University officials to work out details of two trails linking the flatlands to the foothills -- told the Weekly that "serious and thoughtful" talks are underway.

He said he also plans to take a combination hike and golf-cart tour of potential trail alignments south of both Alpine Road and the small Los Trancos Creek that empties into San Francisquito Creek. A primary alternative alignment would follow Alpine Road on the east side of I-280 freeway but cut across the creek just west of 280 and cut south toward Palo Alto's Pearson/Arastradero Preserve.

But Kutras declined to discuss "details of the negotiations" prior to issuance of his report to the Board of Supervisors in early December. The board set Dec. 13 as a deadline for resolving the trails issue, which has rankled environmentalists, Palo Alto city officials and others since the 2000 approval of Stanford's 10-year general use permit, or GUP.

Kniss, who is not a direct party to the talks with Stanford, said nevertheless that both she and Kutras "felt this was a good way to see the area that we're talking about. There are terrain issues that you would not see from the ground that you can see clearly from the air."

Stanford -- citing long-term planning considerations -- has adamantly refused to consider alignments anywhere within the so-called Dish ridge just east of I-280 freeway or Felt Lake region west of 280.

Instead, Stanford has proposed two trail alignments outside the Dish and Felt Lake area boundaries: a $5 million southern trail that extends over the Stanford-owned "Ramos Ranch" horse property to link to a county trail at the Arastradero Road undercrossing of 280, south of Page Mill Road, and an $8 million "multi-use trail" immediately adjacent to Alpine Road, much of it in San Mateo County.

Over Kniss' objections, the board Sept. 13 voted 4-1 to accept a linkage of the southern trail with the northern link along Alpine Road. Kniss said the two should be kept separate.

Stanford officials have presented engineering drawings of both trails to officials in both Santa Clara and San Mateo counties.

Stanford spokesman Larry Horton said Stanford has been notified of the helicopter tour, and said he has seen the area from the air also, a "quite remarkable view." He also declined comment on the substance of the talks with the county.

Horton earlier met with Supervisor Rich Gordon of San Mateo County to outline "a concept" in which Stanford would put the cost of the Alpine Road trail alignment -- estimated at about $8 million -- on the table for a period of several years while the plan undergoes environmental-impact studies and is considered by the county.

Gordon confirmed that the presentation was not an offer but a concept. But he cautioned that he was deeply concerned about safety issues in addition to any environmental concerns, and said the plan would have to undergo study within San Mateo County -- if Santa Clara County officials wind up officially requesting that.

Santa Clara County Supervisor Don Gage said in accepting Stanford's linkage of the north and south trails he doesn't want to see county planning staff tied up another two years over the trails issue.

Weekly Editor Jay Thorwaldson can be e-mailed at jthorwaldson@paweekly.com.

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