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Commission to Vote on 32-Mile Bike and Pedestrian Path

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SPECIAL TO THE TIMES

After two years of often contentious negotiations, the Ventura County Transportation Commission is expected to vote today on a master plan and environmental impact report for the 32-mile Santa Paula Branch Line Recreation Trail, which would transform an old railroad corridor into a bike and pedestrian path.

The proposed trail, which would run along the still-operational railroad tracks and through the middle of farmland, follows the Santa Clara River along California 126 from Montalvo almost to the county line in Rancho Camulos, east of Piru.

The trail, which would require approval from various city and county agencies before it can be constructed, would take at least a decade to complete and could cost a total of $49 million.

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The Fillmore segment has already been constructed, while the city of Santa Paula is prepared to begin construction as soon as the environmental impact report is certified.

The prospect of a trail so close to cropland has raised the ire of farm owners fearful of the public trespassing, picking their crops and potentially filing lawsuits, according to Bob Pinkerton, president of the Ventura County Farm Bureau.

“We’ve been monitoring this since 1993 and our position has always been that we do not oppose the line for railroad use, nor do we oppose the trail inside city limits. But in unincorporated areas, it is a completely different story.”

Land for the trail, which the commission bought for $8.5 million from Southern Pacific several years ago, runs primarily through unincorporated areas, sometimes cutting a swath across farm property.

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Many farmers argue that the addition of a trail that could carry as many as 600,000 bike riders and pedestrians a year will cause millions of dollars in lost crop revenue.

“If someone complains of pesticide spraying, then the agriculture commissioner may be forced to add a 100-foot buffer to the trail,” Pinkerton said. “That means the farmer could lose the bottom five trees on every row because you couldn’t spray them or maintain them.”

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Although officials and farmers disagree about the amount of potential lost land, Chris Stevens, with the Transportation Commission staff, acknowledged that a 12-foot trail with at least a 20-foot buffer separating it from agricultural land would break up some productive farmland.

“The reality is once you build the trail, the land underneath can not be used as farmland,” he said.

Stevens said there are about 35 acres of prime agricultural land that could not be farmed. But he said only a very small amount of the land is now being farmed.

He said the commission had come up with several measures that would ease the impact of the trail on local farmers. These include a 6-foot fence along parts of the trail, posted “Rules of the Road,” gates to close the trail at dusk and surveillance cameras.

But those measures do not appease farmers.

Pinkerton said that although the measures were in the plan, he was skeptical of their feasibility.

“Who’s going to string power for all those surveillance cameras?” he asked.

He also mentioned the potential safety hazards of a wall that restricted access.

Norman Wilkinson, Santa Paula public works director and city engineer, described the trail as an important city backbone, running through important areas.

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“If you look at Santa Paula, almost every major facility is within a block of the railroad--schools, the community center and the senior center, among other things,” he said.

Not only would residents be able to get around without using streets, but visitors would come to see the citrus-dotted terrain that defines California, he said.

“We have the only valley in Southern California that still looks like the landscape from the early part of the 20th century,” Wilkinson said. “People would come from all over to ride it and when they get to Santa Paula, they will be thirsty and hungry and they’ll want to stop.”

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But he said that to build the entire 32 miles, it would be important to design it in such a way that was compatible with farmers.

And many farmers say there is no way to build a major trail so close to an area with pesticide spray.

“There are all these problems with schools and agricultural land and basically this is a huge, 32-mile playground with agriculture on both sides. It’s ludicrous,” said Randy Axell, a fourth-generation farmer who owns 40 acres of citrus and avocados.

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He said he could lose 10% of his property if the trail goes in.

“No other business is required to hand over that much property. I can’t farm it, but I still have to pay taxes on it. I’m disgusted with the whole process.”

The commission will vote at a public meeting on the master plan and environmental report at 10:30 a.m. at Camarillo City Hall.

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