Carmageddon: How does Capitola City Council’s vote change rail trail plan?

Last Thursday’s Capitola City Council vote against the Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission’s plan to build a multi-use path alongside Park Avenue forces the RTC revert to an earlier plan for the section of trail and puts some limits on what the agency can do within the city and village’s limits. While much of the broader project plan remains unchanged for now, concerns remain over losing out on major state funding if delays continue.

The city’s Measure L, which was passed by voters in 2018 and is now city law, was the councilmembers’ basis for rejecting the Park Avenue option, as they interpreted the law in a way that prohibits the RTC and the county from constructing the trail or trail-related infrastructure on city-owned property or in Capitola Village.

The proposal divided community members, with Councilmember Melinda Orbach, who originally said she favored the Park Avenue option, saying that she received threats from members of the community, and that some even came to her workplace and home. Capitola resident TJ Welch previously told Lookout that the Concerned Citizens of Capitola group he helped form would launch a recall effort against any councilmember who voted in favor of the Park Avenue option.

The RTC will instead have to build the trail on the coastal side of the rail line — the original plan. County planner Rob Tidmore said the Park Avenue option would have saved the project about $13 million, but in many ways, the vote does not greatly change the planned trail in the Capitola area. He reiterated that last week’s vote does not mean that the trail will run on the Capitola trestle, and that the current plan is still to replace the historic bridge with one that can support both a trail and passenger rail.

“I think there’s a misperception that the vote tonight meant Capitola’s getting a trail on the trestle,” he said Thursday. “That is not a part of the Segment 10 and 11 project.”

Tidmore said that even with the rejection of the Park Avenue trail option, the trail is still set to end on Cliff Drive at Opal Cliff Drive, on the west side of Soquel Creek above the village, and restart at the intersection of Park Avenue and Monterey Avenue on the other side of the trestle. But he added that he has to figure out some of the details with city staff, which could affect the ease of use and navigation of the trail. Specifically, Tidmore said, he needs to know how striping, signage and bicycle-pedestrian separation is allowed under the city council’s interpretation of city law.

“So instead of facilitating trail users through the village with improvements we were going to build, there’s nothing that helps trail users get from one end of the trail to the other,” he said.

Tidmore also said that, despite his previous concerns, he will likely not have to make a formal request for RTC commissioners to support for the original coastal alignment of the 0.7-mile section of trail adjacent to Park Avenue, as the commission already approved that last year. However, he will have to return to the county board of supervisors to finalize the contract for the work, something that was going to have to happen regardless of which way the vote went.

Capitola Public Works Director Jessica Kahn said the coastal alignment of the trail requires both retaining structures to keep the slopes next to the trail in place and dealing with private owners whose properties encroach onto the rail corridor, which would not have been necessary if the trail was built next to Park Avenue. 

Although there have been concerns that walking back plans for a Park Avenue trail could jeopardize state funding, RTC executive director Sarah Christensen said she believes the agency can work out the issues. The state awarded the county a $67.6 million active transportation grant for the project, the largest such grant in state history. There have been concerns that the county could lose out on that money if it is not spent by 2026, when the grant expires.

“Our highest priority is to preserve that and deliver the project the way we promised the state we would,” Christensen said, but added that many major projects come with unforeseen hurdles. “Projects are dynamic, and we just have to adapt and move forward. Sometimes that’s not easy.”

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Check out our Carmageddon road project list here. This week, pay particular attention to:

• The Highway 1 off-ramps at Park Avenue will be closed for months as part of the Highway 1 expansion project. The southbound off-ramp will be closed for six months starting April 17. The northbound off-ramp was closed April 7 and will stay closed for four months.

• Striping work will cause overnight closures of northbound and southbound Highway 1 between Bay Avenue and State Park Drive from Sunday through Friday between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m.

• Installation of the Newell Creek Pipeline will begin Monday on Graham Hill Road between Summit Avenue and Lockewood Lane. Construction will take place on weekdays from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and could cause delays of up to five minutes.

• Striping for new auxiliary lanes on Highway 1 will cause overnight ramp and single lane closures on northbound and southbound Highway 1 between 41st Avenue and Soquel Drive. On Monday and Tuesday, a single lane of northbound Highway 1 will be closed from 7:30 p.m. to 5 a.m., and alternating closures of a southbound lane will take place from 7:30 p.m. to 6 a.m.  There will also be intermittent closures of the on- and offramps at Soquel Drive and 41st Avenue from 7 p.m. to 5 a.m. on the northbound side and 7:30 p.m. to 6 a.m. on the southbound side.

• Striping on Highway 1 will result in a daytime ramp closure of the northbound Soquel Avenue offramp of Highway 1 on Wednesday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

• Construction along Soquel Drive from La Fonda Avenue to State Park Drive began on Sunday and will continue through the end of the month. Work will take place from Sunday through Thursday between 7:30 p.m. and 5:30 a.m. Traffic may be reduced to one lane during these times.

• Sections of Soquel Avenue, Seabright Avenue and Water Street will be closed on weekdays from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. through May 16 in order for crews to install fiber optic cables for new traffic signals. Those sections are on Soquel Avenue from Seabright Avenue to La Fonda Avenue, Seabright Avenue from Water Street to Soquel Avenue, and Water Street from North Pacific Avenue to Seabright Avenue.

• Tree work, drainage work and utility work will close down sections of Highway 9 from Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Those sections are between Henry Cowell Redwoods Vista Point and Glengarry Road, California Drive/Middle Road and Irwin Way, and Prospect Avenue and Lorenzo Avenue.

• In Watsonville, a single lane on Green Valley Road from Holohan Road to Casserly Road is closed for the Multi-Use Trail Improvement Project. Lane closures occur from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday. Additionally, a single lane is closed on Buena Vista Drive and Ranport Road for overhead tree trimming on weekdays from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., causing potential delays.

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