Ontario Ridge property owner seeks to realign hiking trail

Property owner Rob McCarthy has applied to the county to realign a popular hiking trail and reinstall some fencing on his Ontario Ridge parcel, which has been the subject of controversy for several years.

McCarthy has applied for a minor use permit to move about 100 yards to the west a steep but heavily used portion of a hiking trail just south of Avila Beach and fence off the existing trail. Last year, McCarthy was ordered by the state Coastal Commission to remove fencing he had installed without the proper permits that blocked an access easement.

The county holds an access easement that runs along the top of Ontario Ridge and down the existing steep trail. McCarthy wants to transfer the easement to the new trail he proposes to build.

McCarthy said he considers the existing trail unsafe because it goes straight down a hill from Ontario Ridge to Cave Landing Road at a 45-degree angle. The new trail would be much safer, well-designed and about half as steep, he said.

“An offer to build a new and safer trail should be a no-brainer for approval by the county and the Coastal Commission,” he said.

However, activist Tarren Collins said she opposes closing the existing trail. Collins helped lead the effort last year to have the fencing removed and the trail kept open.“I’m very concerned,” she said. “If Mr. McCarthy wants to build another trail, nothing is stopping him, but leave my trail alone.”

Collins said her main concern is that McCarthy is asking the county to relinquish an existing easement that it holds. “If we start going down that road the precedent that could be set is really frightening,” she said.

The permit application is the latest in a series of steps McCarthy has unsuccessfully taken in an effort to develop or make improvements to his 37-acre parcel near a county park at Pirates Cove.

In 2013, the Coastal Commission denied McCarthy’s application to build a home on the parcel. He then erected fences and signs on the property blocking hiking trails that had been used by the public since the 1960s, causing a public outcry.

McCarthy maintained the fences were needed to protect public safety and lower his liability in the event of a hiking accident on the property. A year ago the Coastal Commission ruled that the fences must be removed because they blocked the county’s access easement.

McCarthy’s new permit application has been put on hold because the county sent him a 14-page letter requesting more information, said Ryan Hostetter, a county planner handling the application.

Any permit could be appealed to the county Board of Supervisors and to the Coastal Commission. McCarthy said he does not know when the matter will be settled. He described the Central Coast as “Bizarro World” due to the difficulty of getting any kind of building permit particularly in the coastal zone.

“I have no idea how long this is going to take,” he said. “In a normal place, I wouldn’t even need a permit.”

This story was originally published March 3, 2015 at 11:23 AM with the headline "Ontario Ridge property owner seeks to realign hiking trail."