Quick Take
The Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to approve Segments 10 and 11 of the Coastal Rail Trail in Mid-County just over a month after it initially deadlocked on moving the project forward. Regional Transportation Commission staff expects construction to begin no later than summer 2026.
The Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Thursday to approve Segments 10 and 11 of the Coast Rail Trail, with the previous holdouts, Supervisors Manu Koenig and Bruce McPherson, now saying they have enough information to support the project.
The vote clears the way for the county to receive nearly $68 million in state grants toward 4.5 miles of the trail running between 17th Avenue in Live Oak and State Park Drive in Aptos, though county staff have requested a 20-month extension from the state.
The board failed to approve the two segments of the proposed 32-mile trail in late March. Koenig and McPherson voted against the project, citing environmental and budget concerns. Supervisor Zach Friend recused himself from the vote because his home backs onto the area where the trail is to be built. He recused himself again from Tuesday’s vote for the same reason.
The board’s initial failure to approve the project alarmed rail and trail advocates because of concerns that it could lead to the county missing out on $67.6 million in state grants tied to it — the largest active transportation grant awarded in state history. The grants expire in the summer of 2026. Since construction is not slated to begin until 2026, many worried that the county could lose that funding if the project is delayed.
On Tuesday, County Park Planner Rob Tidmore gave supervisors an update on several concerns Koenig and McPherson had raised about the project in March. He said Roaring Camp Railroads, which has rights to run freight trains on the branch line, has agreed to pay for the work necessary to realign the tracks in Segment 10. Roaring Camp is still discussing with the county and the Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission (RTC) what other work it could take on. That could reduce the project’s costs by $7 to $9 million, Tidmore said.
The RTC has previously said that it would absorb an estimated $28 million budget shortfall to complete the two segments. At an April 18 meeting, RTC commissioners reaffirmed their support for the project, directed staff to seek additional funding and voted to study how to ensure that South County segments of the trail can receive 2016 Measure D funds — the half-cent sales tax used to pay for transportation projects around the county.
Koenig and McPherson had raised concerns last month about how many trees might have to be removed to make way for the trail and whether cost overruns in the two segments would create a budget shortfall for sections of the trail in South County.
Tidmore told the supervisors there were no real options to significantly reduce the environmental impact of the project, including to monarch butterfly habitats. Reducing the width of the trail would not prevent many additional trees from having to be removed, he said.
McPherson said that while he still has some concerns regarding the project’s cost, the extra information made him comfortable enough to move forward. He told Lookout that he was never against the project, but felt the follow-up work was necessary.
“We just wanted clarity of the issues and adequate information of how we’re going to get this thing done,” he said. “There’s a tough road ahead, but that shouldn’t stop it from happening. There are a lot of things that have been done and there are a lot of things still to be done.”
During the meeting, Koenig said that he, too, has reservations about the cost, but would approve the segments given the RTC’s commitment to fully fund the project and seek additional grant funding.
“This is one hell of a project to undertake when our county is in such a perilous financial position and we can’t contribute any county money ourselves,” he said. “But, at the end of the day, this is the RTC’s project, and with the vote at the last Regional Transportation Commission meeting to ensure that they will back up the county and provide all needed funds, I cannot and will not stand in the way.”
After about an hour of public comment, the approval was met with boisterous applause and cheers from the jam-packed supervisors chambers overflowing with rail and trail advocates. Matt Farrell, board chair of the Friends of the Rail and Trail, said he was “relieved and thrilled” that the segments have finally been approved.
“I think the staff did a great job of doing due diligence and explaining to the supervisors what the issues are,” he said, adding that he’s glad to see the supervisors work together on the matter. “I think they also realized they wanted to maintain the reputation of our county, because it’s really helpful to have a unanimous decision as they move forward.”
Tidmore said the county has submitted its request to the state for a $67 million active transportation grant, along with an extension request of 20 months. RTC Senior Transportation Planner Grace Blakeslee said that as of now, the organization hopes to break ground between early and mid-2026, and the project is expected to take two to three years to complete.
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