Supervisors Agree to Seek Funds for Developing a Policy on New Trails

San Diego County supervisors, saying existing plans to improve the county’s hiking, biking and equestrian trail system are inadequate, agreed Wednesday to seek money in the coming fiscal year to develop a more coherent trails policy.

Public-works planners, who now lack a trails plan, have been unable to form such a policy on when developers and individuals should be encouraged--or ordered--to include rights of way for new trails, Supervisor Susan Golding said.

She and her colleagues agreed to seek funding for a trails map and a trails advisory committee after hearing impassioned speeches by nearly 2 dozen county residents, who praised and criticized the plan to study the existing system.

Although 80 of an estimated 250 people at the meeting asked to speak, supervisors, who were pressed for time, allowed testimony from just 20.

County staff members reported that 60 miles of new trails were dedicated to the county in the six years after 1976, when supervisors adopted a plan that forced builders to incorporate biking, hiking and equestrian trails into new developments. However, since 1982, when the mandatory dedication policy was largely abandoned, just 2.5 miles of new trails have been dedicated to the county on a voluntary basis.

Opposition to any discussion of new trails focused largely on what San Diego resident Barbara Hutchinson called “the M word,” mandatory dedication to the county of trails that cross private property.

“Delete the M word” from discussion of new trails, “and I think that would help” reduce opposition, Hutchinson said.

“ Mandatory is a very harsh word, especially from government,” said Jim Lorenz, chairman of the San Diego County Libertarian Party.

Golding’s proposal, which won unanimous support from the board, includes a condition that, when appropriate, the county require mandatory trail dedications from major subdivisions. Owners of small parcels should generally be protected from the need to provide mandatory easements or dedicated trails, she said.

Charley Wolk, president of the San Diego County Farm Bureau, voiced support for trails but steadfast opposition to the “taking of private lands.” George H. Barnes, a farmer and real estate agent, argued that any referendum held in Valley Center would find little or no support for trails.

George Whyte, a vehement opponent of new trails, argued that private property rights are endangered by “the very few who covet their neighbors’ land because they’re too cheap to buy a horse trailer” and do their riding on trails that don’t cross private property.

But proponents of increased hiking, biking and equestrian trails argued that there is solid support in the county to dramatically increase the system.

Cindy Squires, a 10-year-old Escondido resident whose family owns a pair of horses, presented supervisors with a petition signed by 4,000 county residents. The signatures were gathered by the San Diego County Trails Task Force, a group that was formed in February to help the county develop a new trails plan.

The task force argues that San Diego County is home to 600,000 bicyclists, 970,000 hikers and recreational walkers and 96,000 equestrians.

According to a recommendation by a national trails group, good planning calls for 25 miles of foot trails, 5 miles of bridle paths and 25 miles of bike paths for every 50,000 residents.

Under that formula, the county should have 1,200 miles each of foot and bike trails and 240 miles of bridle paths for its 2.4 million people, according to a task force spokeswoman.