Carmageddon: Aptos Village property dispute over rail trail heads to trial Oct. 19

After several delays and a number of court dates, a property dispute between several Aptos Village property owners and the Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission is headed to court later this month.

The dispute involves the ongoing Coastal Rail Trail project. In particular, it is centered on Segment 12, a 1.25-mile stretch planned to run from State Park Drive to Rio Del Mar Boulevard and heading through Aptos Village. 

Despite the commission moving to build Segments 9, 10 and 11 on top of the railroad tracks last December in order to execute the project within budget, this section and the rest of the trail is still slated to run adjacent to the rail line as was originally planned. In order for the RTC to continue with that design in this section, it will need to use a portion of the land that other property owners use for parking.

The Bayview Hotel, which has been looking for a buyer for several years, and Trout Gulch Crossing next door are the two properties involved in the dispute. Trout Gulch holds a few different businesses, including Betty Burgers, Caroline’s thrift store and Norma Jean’s Coffee. Betty Burgers owner Laurie Negro also owns the building.

The dispute goes back to late 2023, when the RTC sued Negro and Cristina Locke, the owner of the Bayview Hotel, in an attempt to “quiet title” the area where the parking facilities for the hotel and Trout Gulch Crossing sit. A quiet title is a legal proceeding to determine the ownership each party has of the property in question. Santa Cruz County Superior Court documents show that Negro and Locke believe that the RTC owns only an easement of the area next to the rail line and in front of the Bayview Hotel and Trout Gulch Crossing, and the RTC believes that it owns a “fee simple.”

These two terms essentially signify different levels of ownership. The RTC owning just an easement would mean that it does not own the property and the property owner has full ownership, meaning that use of the property depends on the terms of the easement. The RTC owning the land in fee simple would mean that it has total ownership of the property. The trial will aim to determine this.

Both Negro and RTC Executive Director Sarah Christensen say they are confident in their respective cases, but declined to provide many details because it is ongoing litigation.

“Trial is really where we’re going to have clarity,” said Christensen. “We’re looking forward to that, because we need to move forward with the project.”

Christensen also said that regardless of the outcome, the project is still going to happen.

“If we win, we’re ready to go to construction,” she said. “If not, it would complicate things, but it wouldn’t cancel the project.”

The trial is expected to begin on Oct. 19.

Latest news

Here’s what’s happening this week on our roadways:

• Utility and shoulder work is shutting down one lane in various sections of Highway 9 from Monday through Friday between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. Those sections are between the Paradise Park exit and Exit Road, the Camp Campbell entrance and Teilh Drive, Ramona Drive and Stapp Road and Watermans Gap Junction and the 21-mile postmark of Highway 9.

• A full closure of the San Lorenzo Way Bridge in Felton that began Sept. 15 runs through Friday, Oct. 9, as crews prepare to replace the bridge.

• The southbound Highway 1 off-ramp at Bay Avenue in Capitola is in the third month of a scheduled four-month closure that began Aug. 2, as crews reconstruct the ramp as part of the bus-on-shoulder facility. 

• Bridge work is currently shutting down alternating lanes of Highway 9 between Pool Drive and Old County Highway and Riverdale Park and Monaco Lane until April 30, 2027.

• Roadway excavation is shutting down the southbound Highway 1 on-ramp at Park Avenue in Capitola until Nov. 19.

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