San Mateo County rejects Stanford trail plan

Citing a failure to negotiate on Stanford University’s part, a controversial trail/bike path proposal along Alpine Road was unanimously rejected by the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors Tuesday.

The rejection includes an $8.4 million offer by Stanford to pay for realignment of portions of Alpine Road and the building of a paved hiking/bicycle trail along Alpine Road.

“There wasn’t an effort to negotiate. At some point, you have to close the door,” board President Adrienne Tissier said of the board’s action, after observing that “we’re right back where we started from.”

Tissier was referring to the board almost rejecting the offer last March, but delayed action for additional talks with the university.

Stanford’s offer currently will remain on the table until Dec. 31, 2011. The funds would then revert to Santa Clara County to be used for some other environmental or trails project in the region of the Stanford foothills.

Supervisor Rich Gordon on Tuesday said the delay is “unconscionable” and the funds should be released immediately in light of the San Mateo County board’s action.

Santa Clara County Supervisor Liz Kniss, who represents the Palo Alto/Stanford area, later agreed that “the residents for whom this was intended shouldn’t have to wait until 2011 for the benefits.”

Both area residents and environmentalists vehemently opposed the plan, even though Portola Valley officials had approved a portion of the trail/bike path project in their jurisdiction.

The county had considered rejecting the offer last March but wanted additional time to work out a new solution.

The board’s rejection was based on a recommendation by Gordon and Supervisor Jerry Hill, who comprised a two-person subcommittee on the Stanford proposal.

“We have fully investigated this offer and conclude that it is not in the interest of San Mateo County and the region to accept this offer,” they said in a report to the full board.

They warned of probable lawsuits against the county if the board approved the current project.

“The plan does not have the support of the environmental community,” Gordon and Hill wrote in a memo. “Implementation would probably lead to lawsuits against San Mateo County.”

The trail proposal by Stanford was an attempt to comply with conditions set by Santa Clara County in 2000 when it approved a new general use permit for the Stanford campus. One of those conditions was to build two hiking trails to link the flatlands to the foothills through its lands.

The proposed Alpine Road alignment places the bulk of the trail outside Stanford lands.

A separate trail along the south side of Stanford lands is being held up pending resolution of a law suit by the Committee for Green Foothills challenging the northern-trail alignment.

Under an earlier agreement, Stanford must now pay Santa Clara County the $8.4 million it offered to San Mateo County, to be used for other recreation or environmental programs benefiting area residents and users.

But Stanford does not have to release the funds until Dec. 31, 2011, when the offer to build the Alpine Road trail/path project and road-realignment expires, according to Larry Horton, Stanford’s director of government and community relations.

“I know Stanford will wait until 2011 to release the funds, and I think that is unconscionable,” Gordon said. “The funds should be released today.”

Horton argued before the supervisors Tuesday that more time should be given to work out a possible solution regarding the Alpine Road trail. An attorney for Stanford also spoke.

The supervisors’ comments on Stanford’s lack of willingness to negotiate since last March followed Horton’s appeal and comments from a half dozen other speakers opposing the plan.

The Committee for Green Foothills lawsuit has been rejected twice in Santa Clara County Superior Court. It now is before a state appellate court in San Jose — which is scheduled to hear final arguments next week.