SAN JOSE
– Saying he wants the most bang for the county’s buck, District
1 County Supervisor Don Gage revealed Tuesday that he will
recommend the county abandon long-controversial plans to construct
an equestrian facility off Redwood Retreat Road.
SAN JOSE – Saying he wants the most bang for the county’s buck, District 1 County Supervisor Don Gage revealed Tuesday that he will recommend the county abandon long-controversial plans to construct an equestrian facility off Redwood Retreat Road.
The decision could signal the end of 20 years of work and debate over the proposed staging area at Little Arthur Creek. While Gage’s recommendation at the Housing, Land Use Environment and Transportation Committee does not have legal finality – it still goes before the full Board of Supervisors for the ultimate decision – it should have a heavy bearing since the project lies entirely within his district.
Gage told a handful of observers at the Tuesday hearing that while county parks should serve as many people with as many different recreational opportunities as possible, the Little Arthur facility seemed too costly for the relatively small number of users it would serve.
Meanwhile, he said the county has big plans for horsemen on its huge new swath of parkland at the former Bear Ranch east of San Martin and will also work on equestrian access at Sprig Lake this year.
“It’s looking at the facts and seeing how we can get the most (use) for the dollars we have to spend …” Gage said. “Right now, larger projects that can serve more people make more sense.”
The project originally included camping and parking meant to accommodate hundreds of equestrians, but after significant controversy was later scaled back to a day-use staging area with 17 parking spaces on roughly 5.6 acres of county-owned property along the winding country road west of Gilroy.
The facility would also include a bridge and a roughly two-mile equestrian trail into Mt. Madonna County Park. Parks officials projected it would serve an average of 19 users a day.
But Gage said Tuesday that it would likely cost at least $750,000 to make those improvements, and probably even more in future dollars and potential environmental costs. Because funding is not currently set aside for the project, it would go to the back of the county parks department’s $120 million capital projects wish list, he said.
“It would be several years before we’d find funding, and by that time (environmental) rules could change and it could cost even more,” he said in an interview.
The project already promises “significant” permitting difficulties with wildlife regulatory agencies, he said.
Environmental groups and federal wildlife regulatory agencies have insisted the county consider new federal water-quality standards when analyzing the project’s impacts on Little Arthur Creek, a spawning area for threatened Steelhead trout.
Newly updated environmental studies have suggested the project will not have a significant impact on the environment. And county parks officials questioned the need to follow the federal regulations, saying they are broad and have not yet been adopted by state water-quality agencies.
But neighbors have already sued twice on environmental grounds, and have said more legal action is likely if the project is approved.
“It doesn’t scare me off to get legal challenges, but if they raise (them) the cost goes up even more,” Gage said.
Gage also said management of the site would also be “problematic” due to the facility’s distance from the main Mt. Madonna County Park and its staff. Parks staff said they would have to hire a half-time maintenance worker and spread rangers and patrols from Mt. Madonna to operate the site.
Gage’s decision followed the recommendation of Parks Department staff. County Parks Director Lisa Killough said there is little chance of ever reaching consensus over the project. Parks officials also fear another protracted battle over environmental standards.
“In this day and age, our relatively limited resources should be directed toward (projects) with more users or much better chance of success,” Killough said. “I have serious doubts this project is possible.”
Meanwhile, Gage the county’s new parkland at Bear Ranch near Coyote Creek County Park will provide over 20 miles of trails and special equestrian facilities such as an arena, pastures and camping.
And the Parks Department will start work late this summer on a project meant to improve equestrian access to Mt. Madonna from the former Sprig Lake area off Hecker Pass Highway, he said.
Besides the environmental arguments, general opposition from Redwood Retreat residents has centered on concerns about increased exposure to fire danger, trespassing and litter, liability and traffic impacts from trailers along the windy rural road.
Frank Pattie, president of the Redwood Retreat Neighborhood Association, was cautiously optimistic after Tuesday’s hearing, calling Gage’s decision “the best news we’ve had in 22-some years.”
“It’s not quite finalized, but it’s good news,” he said. “They’ve finally got their heads together and made some sense of this whole thing.”
But equestrians have said the Little Arthur project is important because it provides safer, wider access to Mt. Madonna than is available at the main entrance or Sprig, and say Mt. Madonna offers cooler summer weather than other nearby parks, where heat can limit horse activity. Some have suggested the homeowners’ environmental concerns are really a tool to scuttle the staging facility.
Marilynn Woodcock, a Redwood Retreat resident and project supporter, said the county would be abandoning a promise made 20 years ago.
“The fact that it was approved several times by the Board of Supervisors reinforces that it was the intention of the county to put this in place,” she said.
The full Board of Supervisors is likely to take up the matter within the next two months. But after 20 years of back-and-forth, neither side of the dispute sees Gage’s recommendation as a done deal.
Gilroy equestrian Joan Throgmorton said she’s not giving up.
“I don’t think they’ve given it enough consideration,” she said. “I really don’t.”
Pattie is also hedging.
“We haven’t crossed the bridge yet – there’s two more months and who knows what could happen,” he said. “It looks very promising, but I’ve learned through all the years to wait until this final day.”
