Everybody seems to like the idea of trails along the foothills of the Montini Ranch Preserve. It’s how to get to them, at least on the west side of town, that’s the issue.
A neighborhood meeting Monday night invited public comment on the final two options for a western trailhead into the preserve: along the pasture on Fifth Street West south of El Verano, or on Fourth Street West near Harazthy.
The trail network, which will meander along the city’s backdrop to link with the Overlook Trail to the east, is controlled by Sonoma County’s Open Space District.
“They own it, it’s their decision,” said City Planner David Goodison.
The land was purchased for public access in 2005. Debate over the pasture issue, including a city council vote to ignore a mediation it commissioned, has been going on ever since.
Officially, the open space district has chosen the Fifth Street trailhead, but has given the city the option to pick Fourth Street – as long as all agreements and environmental reviews are complete by Oct. 2010. Feedback from Monday night will be summarized for the city council, which will make its final recommendation to the open space district.
“It’s a real priority of your supervisor (Valerie Brown) to get people on this property,” said Open Space District General Manager Bill Keene. “It’s down to these two options.”
The Fourth Street option emerged several months ago when California State Parks reversed position and said it would make available a small parcel of land to accommodate part of the trail. This option would, in keeping with a statewide law for state parks, strictly prohibit dogs.
Both designs include a hard, but not paved, trail segment with wheelchair-friendly slopes leading to a universally accessible vista point. Other than two accessible-designated parking spaces, both plans rely on street parking only.
The open space district projected up to 25 cars a day would park at both trailheads, with the majority using the eastern lot. “We view the western end as secondary access,” said Leslie Lew, open space planner.
While neighbors of Fourth Street oppose this option for traffic, noise and safety reasons, it has become the de facto choice of people not wanting to disturb the cow pasture.
The Fifth street plan would retain cattle grazing on the pasture’s north 4.5 acres, and allow three-weeks a season for cows to clear the southern end. To many, any restriction of cattle and intrusion of walkers violates the spirit of the original sense of open space.
“The preservation of the cow pasture was the primary reason for the acquisition,” said Larry Barnett, former Sonoma mayor and city councilor, who worked on the original Montini property deal. “Preserving the city backdrop and preserving the cow pasture were paramount.”
Stanley Cohn was the Sonoma mayor when the council approved investing in the Montini purchase. “It was the council viewpoint to keep it as it was,” he said. “A place of natural serenity.”
“The vision was that it was going to remain a pasture,” agreed Gina Cuclis, a Planning Commissioner during the negotiations. “A few parked cars (on 4th Street) is minor compared to the overall benefit to the Valley of not cutting the pasture in half.”
As originally conceived, Lew told the Sun, the pasture was to have no fence, which would have allowed cows to range throughout the nine-parcel area bisected by an open trail. The fence was added at the request of Bill Montini, who retains the grazing rights to the property.
For now advocates of allowing dogs on the trail, they packed the Sonoma Community Center Monday night, may be barking up the wrong tree. A rule against dogs is part of the open space district management plan approved by the county, Lew said, and can’t at this point be changed.
The logic for the no-dog rule is this: because the new trail network is viewed as an extension of the Overlook Trail, it is subject to the city law prohibiting dogs from Overlook.
Any access for leashed dogs is part of a bigger question – who will assume long-term responsibility for the trail system?
The open space develops areas such as the Montini Preserve but does not continue to manage them, Goodison said. “It will look to spin off the property to another agency.”
State Parks has expressed interest in maintaining the trail network, he said, as the area could incorporate the Vallejo House park property. As noted, state park management would rule out any dog access.
Another option would be city control, Goodison said, although it has not been discussed at the council level. If and when the city took control of the preserve, it could choose to vote to allow dogs on those trails.
The topic will next come before the city council, perhaps in December.
