To move or not to move? Fate of popular SLO County trail near Pirate’s Cove to be decided
The fate of a popular trail in southern San Luis Obispo County will finally be decided this week.
On Friday, the California Coastal Commission is expected to make a decision on whether to move the Ontario Ridge Trail near Pirate’s Cove in Avila Beach.
The trail has been slated to be relocated since about 2017, but that’s been held up by appeals from local hikers concerned about losing the existing trail’s “rustic” and “exhilarating” traits.
Tarren Collins, a local environmental activist who has long championed keeping the trail in its current state said the decision has been “a very long time coming.”
“It’s been a long, drawn-out effort, and I am absolutely astounded at the public enthusiasm for continuing on this battle and making sure that the coastal commissioners know that we care about this trail,” she said. “It’s a part of our community.”
Hikers oppose moving steep Avila Beach trail
The saga begins in 2013, when property owners Rob and Judi McCarthy applied to build a home on the parcel.
The Coastal Commission denied the application. Soon after that, the McCarthys erected fences and signs on the property, blocking hiking trails that had been used by the public since the 1960s.
The Coastal Commission once again stepped in and told the McCarthys they had to remove the fences to allow public use of the trails.
The network of trails on Ontario Ridge offers sweeping views of the Pacific Ocean and a path to Pirate’s Cove, a clothing-optional beach popular with sunbathers.
Part of the main Ontario Ridge Trail is a notoriously steep stretch that travels up the hillside at about a 60-degree angle.
The steep part of the trail is through the McCarthys’ property.
Rob McCarthy has said he worries that he’d be liable if a hiker falls and is injured on the steep portion of the Ontario Ridge Trail. He instead proposed building a new trail on an adjacent parcel to the west of his property and fencing off the steep sectioin.
The new path would wrap around the back of the hillside, rather than climb up its front, before joining up with the existing network of trails on Ontario Ridge. It would feature trail fencing and signage along the route going through private property.
Local hikers have opposed this plan, saying it would remove the elements about that particular part of the trail they love: the exertion of the steep climb and the reward of panoramic ocean views as they traverse up and down it.
“The thing I guess is the most difficult is that the public is required, again and again, to let decision makers know that this trail is important, that there’s no other trail like it in the county,” Collins said. “It is a very exhilarating experience that makes it so special, along with the beautiful views and the peace and quiet in a rustic experience.”
Collins likened the different between the existing trail and the proposed trail to “night and day.”
“The views greatly diminish — you’re looking mostly at the back of the (Chevron) Tank Farm,” she said. “And it’s a meandering experience.”
Attorney tells Coastal Commission to ‘stop playing games’ with trail, house application
McCarthy’s proposal was approved by the San Luis Obispo County Planning Commission in April 2017, and then held up in an appeal to the San Luis Obispo Board of Supervisors in September 2017.
Local advocates filed another appeal to the California Coastal Commission following the Board of Supervisors meeting, but it has taken more than three years to get before the commission.
Now Coastal Commission staff are recommending that the commission take over jurisdiction of the trail project and deny the project permits because they violate California Coastal Act and Local Coastal Plan standards related to public access and recreation, among other regulations, according to staff documents.
According to staff, the Coastal Act and Local Coastal Plan (LCP) protect existing public trails and public access rights, something in danger if the relocation plan moves forward.
“Following review of the local record, staff recommends that the commission find that the county’s approval of the project raises a substantial LCP conformance issue with respect to the above issues, that the commission take jurisdiction over the (coastal development permit) application, and that the Commission deny that CDP application due to significant Coastal Act and LCP inconsistencies,” read the staff report.
In a lengthy letter to the California Coastal Commission dated Feb. 5, attorney Fred Gaines, who represents the McCarthys, said the staff report was full of “blatant falsehoods” and contended that staff were going to “deny whatever the McCarthy’s propose and the county approves.”
He noted that when the Coastal Commission denied the McCarthys’ first application for a home on their property, they were told they would first have to relocate the trail before being allowed to build there.
“It’s time to stop playing games,” Gaines wrote. “After 10 plus years, just tell us where you will allow the McCarthys to build a house and where you want the trail. The application before you is for a fence you must approve and for an enlarged, safe, public trail in the exact location staff directed the applicants to place it. It must be approved.”
You can watch the California Coastal Commission meeting live on the commission’s website, coastal.ca.gov. It begins at 9 a.m. Friday.
The Ontario Ridge Trail appeal is the final item on the agenda for the day.
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