Community Voice: The County Has Dressed Up 8th St. East $2.7 Million Pig with “Green” Lipstick

By Philip Sales

I want to thank the Sun’s editorial staff for highlighting the issues related to the County’s proposed acquisition of Union Pacific Railroad’s “remaining property interests in the 8th St., East corridor”.

Some of your readers have commented that it is unfair to criticize this purchase because it is about improving bike infrastructure and/or the idea of a railroad connection into Sonoma.

However, my criticism is about neither of those issues. I support trails and the expansion of a regional rail system. The issue here is simply how the County has dressed up this $2.7 million proposed extortion payment to Union Pacific railroad, which has never run a train on this right of way. The County states that it is acquiring Union Pacific Railroad’s “remaining property interests in the 8th St., East corridor.” 

The County is only buying 7.7 acres not 20+/- acres for the bike path, as they claim. The remaining 20 acres is the existing County Road (8.7 acres), which has been a public road for over a century. Another 4.5 acres is the abandoned railroad right of way section between Denmark Street and East Napa Street, which the County never deeded to the Northwestern Pacific Railroad, the predecessor to Union Pacific.

By cynically claiming that the $2.7 million is for a bike path allows the County to slap some “green” lipstick on this pig. 

I’ve been a park and trail planner for over 40 years. I’ve planned and built many trails both on abandoned railroad corridors and negotiated easements with private property owners. This project has been happening in secret with no public discussion. There was a single closed session item at the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors where the Director of Regional Parks was authorized to enter into negotiations with Union Pacific. He was never authorized to sign a Sales Agreement, which he did less than six weeks later, committing the County to $2.7 million, without authority from the Board of Supervisors or any public hearing. The purchase has since languished in Escrow for over two and a half years because Union Pacific cannot fulfill its obligations.

The $2.7 million is allegedly to purchase 1.8 miles of fragmented remnants of an abandoned railroad right of way for a bike path. That would be almost $1.5 million per mile. In 2004 and 2006, SMART bought 27 miles of railroad right away from Northwest Pacific Railroad between Novato and American Canyon and paid $7.2 million. This included tracks, signals, railroad crossings and equipment at a cost of $266,666 per mile.

This flawed purchase has ramifications that go well beyond Sonoma County. It sends the wrong message for other “rails to trails” negotiators and rewards the bullying tactics of Union Pacific Railroad. It is also a terrible precedent to misuse public funding designated to support Open Space, Parks and the environment to settle a century old property dispute.

I was informed by Supervisor Hermosillo that this was a “complex real estate transaction.” Obviously, the County staff could try and explain it. However, I am deeply concerned about the ability of the County Counsel and Regional Parks staff involved. Judging from the Preliminary Title report, attached to the Sales Agreement, County staff who reviewed it were either inept or sloppy. 

1. The word Railroad is misspelled as “Railraod”, not once but multiple times.
   2. One of the “exceptions to title” refers to a property six miles away.
   3. Maps referenced in the Title Report’s hot links do not match the descriptions in the text.
   4. The Title report ignores the findings of the Record of Survey and the historic documentation regarding the County’s ownership of the 4.5 acres between Denmark Street and East Napa Street.

Were County staff browbeaten by Union Pacific’s lawyers or were they poorly advised by former railroad employees hired as “experts”? County lawyers appear to have let Union Pacific’s lawyers write the Sales Agreement.

As one of the “non-responses” by County staff to questions posed in the last edition of the Sun, by the Sun Editorial Board, the County is obligated under the CEQA to do an alternative analysis before the project could be built. With $2.7 million at stake involved in this purchase, County staff should at least study alternatives now and present them to the Board and the public.

However, since this has not happened, I have spent some time analyzing the proposed County project and two Alternative Options. My analysis is based on likely costs from bids and data of recent bike infrastructure projects. The County’s 8th Street project to connect to Burndale Road is likely to cost $11.8 million in additional funding. The likelihood of obtaining this amount of funding in the near future is highly unlikely. The sources of funding for these types and size of projects are highly competitive, urban focused and need to serve populated areas. In addition, because of the Trump Administration’s actions, the federal source of “green infrastructure” funds has dried up. By comparison, the alternatives that are proposed, and which are already on the County’s Bike Plan, would cost between $1.6 million and $2.7 million and could be largely built with funds the County already has.

I urge residents and readers to take the time to send an email to Supervisor Rebecca Hermosillo at [email protected] and let her know that:

1.   Remind her that we need to use our local green infrastructure dollars wisely.
2.   The use of Open Space and Parks funding from voter-approved tax measures for open space and parks to buy an existing County road is not appropriate.
3.   Demand that the County terminate the Sales Agreement signed by the Director of Regional Parks in March 2023 on the grounds that:
4. The Director of Regional Parks had no authority to sign that Agreement.
   b. Union Pacific has failed to remove the antique rail cars after two and a half years. 
5.   Demand a public meeting to present to the public the purchase documents and appraisal.
6.   Demand a full analysis study of Alternatives before any further negotiations.

Let’s build projects now that serve existing and well documented needs and not wait decades. Remember this is your tax money.

Philip Sales is a former Sonoma County Parks Planning Administrator. After leaving his position in Sonoma County, he went on to lead the Napa Valley Vine Trail Coalition in Napa County that built 33 miles of the 47-mile bike path system that will eventually connect Calistoga with the City of Vallejo. He now sits on a steering committee for the Bay Trail.