A Bike Path to Progress

Mighty crashing forces of nature.

Mighty clashing forces of politics.

While debate over how to stop the erosion and preserve the bike path behind the Ventura County Fairgrounds at Surfers Point drags on year after year, the Pacific Ocean relentlessly chews its way toward the midway.

Possible solutions get trickier and more expensive every year--and this debate has been going on for decades.

Finally, there is a glimmer of hope. A working group representing the parties most directly affected has come up with a draft of a plan that might solve at least part of the problem.

This good news comes in such a carefully measured dose because the group is trying to build consensus from a motley mosaic of jurisdictions, all of them effusive in their praise of the bike path as a community treasure, but all primarily looking out for their own interests and none of them eager to spend a cent.

To see why this issue deserves wider public attention and even greater efforts to resolve it, we invite the negotiators--and especially the directors of the fairgrounds, a state-owned entity that controls the affected land--to come out of their conference room and join us in viewing the situation from a different perspective: from atop the giant Ferris wheel.

The fairgrounds’ consistent position thus far has been “No, nope, not gonna give up 300 parking spaces,” as called for in the “managed retreat” proposal to move the bike path slightly inland and replace the rubble on the beach with cobblestones and dunes designed to dissipate and be replenished periodically. Those 300 spaces are a valid concern . . . if you’re looking at the small picture.

But from up here atop the Giant Wheel, it’s obvious that this sticky little turf war is a key obstruction to long-term, big-picture progress in Ventura County’s coastline maintenance, tourism, recreation and even transit problems.

From up here, you can see clear up the Ventura River, where the Matilija Dam has sidetracked 50 years’ worth of ocean-bound sand. Bringing some of that sand on downstream to the coast, as the new plan suggests, could help nature begin to rebuild every beach from Surfers Point on south. Year after year it would grow wider and more inviting, offering better protection against storm erosion.

From up here, the eye swings easily from the imperiled bike path below to its healthier stretches farther south, to the pristine estuary north of the river mouth, to the path of the soon-to-come bike and equestrian trail headed upriver toward Ojai. Tourism officials see all these as potential magnets for bicycling families. It’s easy to imagine bike-to-the-fair promotions, off-season livery stables at the fairgrounds for people who want to rent horses to ride up the River Trail.

From up here, we look down at the Caltrans maintenance yard next to the fairgrounds and wonder what idiot thought that was the best use for ocean-view property. And anyone who isn’t a politician might wonder the same thing about that vast fairgrounds parking lot.

That’s because from up here, if you use a little imagination, you can even see the relatively short distance into the next century. And that view raises the question of whether the fairgrounds of the future should have much on-site customer parking at all.

Already, if you visit the Getty Center you will ride a tram from where you park to where the action is. Its designers knew better than to squander their top-dollar real estate on a wasteland of asphalt and chain link that would sit unused for much of the year.

The Ventura County Fair is headed in the right direction, but too slowly. For the past decade the fair has steadily improved its shuttle system from distant parking lots.

Even more promising is the rail line that runs right to the front gate. In the past three years, tens of thousands of fair-goers have cruised in aboard Metrolink trains from distant, free parking. This service should be expanded each year and promoted vigorously both by Metrolink and by the fair. Those who experience this easy way to visit the fair will be more likely to try it for future trips to other destinations.

After so many years of hand-wringing and ill-advised strategies that only made matters worse, it is thrilling to see some movement toward a solution at last. Unfortunately, this is a puzzle that can be solved only if it is solved completely. Like an algebra equation, no variable can be left undefined.

The parking question is one issue; another is money. The initial cost of the “managed retreat” is estimated at $4.5 million. Annual cost to replenish sand and cobbles hasn’t even been estimated but will be substantial. And although funds may be available from numerous sources for such a coastal-restoration experiment that could be copied up and down both seaboards, none of the affected agencies has yet budgeted anything.

We applaud the working group’s efforts to find a lasting solution, but we lament the small thinking that stands in the way.

Let’s explore a land swap that would put that Caltrans yard in a more appropriate spot and add that parcel to the fairgrounds, but let’s continue to shift the parking load off site.

Let’s explore ways to integrate the bike path, River Trail and fairgrounds for the year-round pleasure of residents and visitors alike.

Let’s seize this opportunity to begin working with nature, rather than constantly battling it, to build a healthy coastline.

The Times believes in long-range, big-picture solutions that will pay off for years to come. Though experimental, this one seems worth a try.