Bob Jones Trail link in jeopardy after SLO County supervisors come up one vote short
The effort to complete the Bob Jones Trail will likely lose its funding after a failed vote during the San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors meeting Tuesday — casting into turmoil the ambitious project the county has spent more than a decade and millions of dollars trying to make a reality.
The decision came down to Supervisor Debbie Arnold, who cast the deciding vote against a motion of eminent domain that would’ve acquired a necessary piece of land from one withholding property owner to finish the project.
At least four votes were required to pass the resolution.
With Supervisor John Peschong recusing himself, the tally came in just under what was needed, with supervisors Bruce Gibson, Dawn Ortiz-Legg and Jimmy Paulding all voting in favor.
Disappointed groans from attendees echoed across the board room as Arnold cast the lone dissenting vote, effectively dooming any chance of the Bob Jones project being completed within the county’s funding deadline.
“Debbie Arnold wears the killing of the Bob Jones Trail extension like a badge of honor,” Lea Brooks, treasurer of the Friends of the Bob Jones Trail advocacy group, told The Tribune following the meeting. “This will be her legacy.”
San Luis Obispo County has long been working to bridge a 4.5-mile gap in the trail between San Luis Obispo and Avila Beach that would allow walkers and bikers to safely commute between the city and the sea.
The county previously secured $18.25 million in federal funding to complete the work, but it will only be able to keep the grant if construction begins by March 2025.
County Counsel Rita Neal told The Tribune that was unlikely after the outcome of Tuesday’s vote.
The funding does not expire for another five months, but she said to keep the money the board would have to finalize a new design, go out to bid, hire a contractor and break ground on the work in that time.
“There are a lot of steps to get there — and it takes a lot of time — and we’re in September,” Neal said.
There may be options to apply for other grants after March if the current funding expires, but it becomes much harder to secure new funding when the county has unused federal funds on its record, Neal said.
Gibson said there was a “maybe 1%, maybe 5%” chance of the project being completed on the current timeline.
Now, unless another option is approved before the rapidly approaching deadline, the completion of the Bob Jones Trail will likely lose its funding, potentially leaving the county with few options for a project that has been over a decade in the making.
It would also lose the costs already sunk into the extension’s construction. Those total nearly $7 million, plus an additional $7 million the San Luis Obispo Council of Governments voted to allocate to the project Aug. 14. In combination with the $18.25 million federal grant, this brings the current pricetag of the project over $32 million.
During the meeting Tuesday, Ortiz-Legg said that allocation was “wasted” as a result of the board’s vote.
The hearing ended with her calling for a motion for staff to look for other paths forward. The motion was unanimously approved by the board — but few who spoke during the meeting were optimistic about that outcome.
“Today, it’s make or break,” public commenter Bruce Hilton said. “It’s Humpty Dumpty. If it falls apart now, I don’t think its going to go back together.”
Property owner refuses to sell land that would connect final Bob Jones trail pieces
The effort to connect the Bob Jones Trail from San Luis Obispo to the sea has been held up by one landowner, Ray Bunnell, who refused to sell the sliver of his land the county says is needed to complete the project.
The project would permanently use just over 1 acre on the corner of his approximately 146-acre property located next to Highway 101 and San Luis Obispo Creek.
“I am not opposed to the Trail,” Bunnell wrote in a letter to the board on Aug. 15. “I think this is a great idea that Mr. Jones had. However, things have changed drastically since that vision began.”
Bunnell said that placing the trail on the east side of the highway, where his property is located, would put public users in “much greater danger” of serious flooding issues, homeless camps, fire risk, crime, car coming off the highway and other threats that “are not serious issues on Ontario.”
Tuesday’s vote considered a resolution of necessity that would have allowed the county to initiate the process of eminent domain and take the needed land from Bunnell.
The resolution was brought forward after Bunnell rejected multiple requests to meet and a compensation offer for the use of his land, according to a presentation given by Valerie Moore, the county’s Right of Way Unit agent, on Tuesday.
This came after the county redesigned the project to mitigate the landowner’s initial concerns by removing the trail parking and adding an 8-foot-tall fence and bridge that would accommodates ranch vehicles, Moore said.
Moore noted that more than 80% of the slice of Bunnell’s land needed for the Bob Jones pathway was already filled by easements for gas, water, oil lines and drainage, meaning there would be less than a quarter-acre of new impact.
Quoting an unnamed landowner in the county, Ortiz-Legg said, “If there was ever a time to use eminent domain, it’s this one.”
“We shouldn’t be needing to talk anybody into this with the amount of land and the fact that there’s easements on there already,” she said. “That anybody could have the gall to try to take from the better good of the entire county for self interest ... it’s really just infuriating. It’s sad.”
Even in light of Tuesday’s vote, negotiations with Bunnell could still continue throughout the eminent domain process, Moore said.
However, there was some debate as to whether an eminent domain vote was even legal.
In her statement to the board, Kristen Renfro, Bunnell’s legal representation noted that policy 3.11 of the Parks and Recreation Element of the County’s General Plan states that “eminent domain will not be used for trail establishment.”
Renfro criticized the board for “choosing to ignore” the planning policy.
“I don’t know what that kind of message sends to citizens about government accountability and their application and consistent application of our laws,” Renfro said. “Anyone who cares about due process of law public participation in government should be appalled.”
County counsel eventually rejected this line of thought on the grounds that they were considering a rule of necessity, a specific case of eminent domain, and the board is authorized to interpret certain policies.
Trail could help emergency access for neighborhood, former Cal Fire chief says
Speakers on Tuesday noted a finished Bob Jones Trail would also help with a longstanding safety issue in the area.
Independent consulting firm Resolute Associates conducted an evaluation on the fire safety of the Baron Canyon area and concluded that the neighborhood was not up to date with emergency evacuation protocol.
“Right now the situation for Baron Canyon is such that it’s dangerous for evacuation,” Robert Lewin, founder and principal of Resolute Associates, told The Tribune. It “does not really comply with the secondary access,” he said.
He also noted that area was designated by Cal Fire as a “very high fire severity zone” — the highest rating the state has for potential for fire.
Lewin served as SLO County fire chief for Cal Fire for five years and now runs the consulting firm to help developers navigate fire regulations.
Lewin said the Baron Canyon subdivision was designed prior to the current regulations that require two evacuation points. The Bob Jones Trail would improve the situation by adding a secondary emergency egress for residents of Baron Canyon, he said.
This is also not the first time that the Bob Jones Trail will have been used as an emergency access point, Lewin said.
The trail acts as a second evacuation route for the Secret Garden at Sycamore Mineral Springs Resort & Spa, which otherwise only has one access path to the main hotel and Avila Beach Drive.
Other current Cal Fire officials agreed with Lewin’s analysis.
“If you look at the causes of fire in San Luis Obispo County and statewide, the vast majority of them are human,” Cal Fire Mid Coast Battalion Chief Paul Lee told The Tribune.
“That highway corridor sees thousands upon thousands of cars a day,” Lee said. “We do get vehicle fire starts along that corridor throughout the summertime … and there’s really not a good place to pick those fires up.”
The Bob Jones bike path alone won’t fully satisfy the requirements of a second access route, but it is a step in the right direction, Lewin said.
“This does not meet the full road requirements, but it does improve the situation, because you’re creating a route that cars could drive out on and evacuate and ambulances could go on,” he said.
In order for the trail to be fully up to code with fire laws, it would have to be able to host fire truck access, including a wide enough paved path to drive on and a bridge able to support up to 75,000 pounds.
During public comment, several people pleaded with the board, and Arnold specifically, to see the need for the trail from the perspective of public safety.
“Arnold, it’s up to you,” said Vince Brooks, a San Luis Obispo resident and board member of Friends of the Bob Jones Trail. “This is a difficult choice, but please vote for public safety.”
Dissenting supervisor says property rights are ‘cornerstone of our republic’
Despite the outpouring of support from concerned community members and advocates from the Friends of the Bob Jones Trail during Tuesday’s meeting, the bid to push through an eminent domain declaration ultimately fell through after Peschong recused himself and Arnold voted against the resolution.
It wasn’t an unforeseen scenario.
Peschong was not present at Tuesday’s meeting after recusing himself from previous votes on this topic on the grounds of a conflict of interest.
Senate Bill 1439 prohibits local elected officials like county supervisors from accepting donations larger than $250 from any party involved in a license, permit or entitlement proceeding.
If an official accidentally accepts a donation, they can return the funds within 30 days and still vote on the project. If the official fails to return the donation, they cannot vote on the matter for one year, according to the California Fair Political Practices Commission.
Supervisor John Peschong’s most recent re-election campaign accepted three donations from Bunnell. The property owner donated $1,000 on May 4, 2023, $250 on Aug. 3, 2023, and $500 on Sept. 27, 2023, according to campaign finance reports.
However, some thought the North County supervisor was purposefully forgoing his right to vote on the issue.
“John Peschong needs to be voting on this,” President of Friends of the Bob Jones Trail Helene Finger told The Tribune after the meeting. “He’s playing games to say he can’t vote”
Peschong rejected the claim and said his recusal was strictly a matter of legality.
“It’s not legal for me to vote on this. That’s what the law says, I follow the law,” Peschong told The Tribune on Wednesday. “Anyone asking me not to vote on this is asking me to break the law.”
Arnold, meanwhile, had already previously voted against using eminent domain on Bunnell’s property. With only four voting members, she needed to flip her position to save the project — but instead she held her ground.
“Property rights is, to me, the cornerstone of our republic,” Arnold said during discussion. “I think, at higher level, that is more important than any roadway, any bike pathway, any project that we could be working on.”
Some supporters of the project said they found Arnold’s dissent to be hypocritical.
Multiple speakers called Arnold out for voting against the use of eminent domain for the Bob Jones Trail when she has supported it in other scenarios in the past, such as the vote on the Dover Canyon Road Bridge replacement project in February 2023.
The Friends of the Bob Jones Trail website shows a video of Arnold speaking in favor of declaring eminent domain in that case.
“Every single one of her comments applies, if not more, to the Bob Jones Trail,” Finger said of the video Tuesday.
During discussion, Arnold defended her consideration of eminent domain on a “project by project” basis, saying the Dover Canyon Road Bridge approval specifically was “necessary and in the public interest ... to be replaced.”
One of Arnold’s fellow board members called out the perceived difference in what constitutes the public’s interest during his own comments.
“The county supervisor is supposed to act in the public interest,” Gibson said during discussion. “It’s pretty clear that we’re going to see this board fail because one county supervisor chooses not to act in the public interest.”
This story was originally published August 20, 2024 at 10:07 PM.
CORRECTION: This article has been updated to reflect that the San Luis Obispo Council of Governments voted to allocate $7 million to the Bob Jones Trail project on Aug. 14 and that Ray Bunnell’s property is approximately 146 acres.
