IRVINE : City Doesn’t Want Regional Bike Path

The final chapter in the saga of the Northwood abandoned railroad spur will have to be written another day, the City Council decided this week.

For more than two years, the council has debated how to turn the 1.3-mile-long dirt path running behind 202 homes in the city’s Northwood community into a bike trail and greenbelt. Every alternative has been dismissed or delayed because of the high cost.

On Tuesday, the council rejected applying for a $1.9-million federal grant for the project after local residents criticized the strings attached to federal funds. The grant would require the city to designate the path as a “regional” bicycle trail.

A regional bike trail behind homes would be “sure to bring increased crime and gang activities,” said Ann Cleland, a resident whose home is behind the path. She has been the community’s most vocal advocate for the city to do something with the strip of land.

Cleland was joined by at least six neighbors.

The path runs from about Culver Drive to Jeffrey Road in a residential area between Irvine Boulevard and Bryan Avenue. The council has voted to someday landscape the area and build a meandering, 8-foot-wide concrete pathway for pedestrians and bicyclists. The city staff estimates the trail will cost $2 million to build and landscape.

To qualify for federal money, the trail would have to be 11 feet wide.

The three extra feet and a regional designation would bring skateboarders and gang members from outside the city, Cleland said. “We do not need to be importing more problems,” she said.

Councilwoman Christina Shea said the residents were promised an eight-foot-wide trail, so the council should stick with that plan. The council voted 4-1 to reaffirm its commitment to building a local path, eight feet wide.

Mayor Michael Ward voted against the proposal, saying the city should not pass up the opportunity to build the trail soon.

“We have to get this thing done because to leave it the way it is is a crime,” Ward said. “It is a very ugly vacant lot. . . . If that means we have to make the trail three feet wider, I’m sorry.”