Several residents of the Dearfield neighborhood adjacent to the soon to be opened Glenwood Open Space Preserve had something to say about a trail map under consideration by the Scotts Valley Parks and Recreation Commission.
Residents expressed real concern about traffic and parking impacts and specifically requested that Neighborhood Access Points to proposed trails, and a gate at the north end of Dearfield Drive, not be advertised or included on any maps published by the Parks and Recreation Department for the general public. The requests were made as an appeals to reduce expected traffic on Deerfield Drive by visitors to the preserve, as well as concerns about parking in an already parking constrained neighborhood.
After hearing the concerns about traffic, parking and privacy from several residents of the Deerfield Drive neighborhood, the commission voted 3-0, with one commissioner absent, recommending the final trail map not include any reference to Neighborhood Access Points currently noted on the draft map. The final Public Access Overview and Trail Map, created by the Land Trust of Santa Cruz County, will be considered by the city council, along with the recommendation of the Park and Recreation Commission, on April 18th.
According to the staff report written by Kristen Ard, Recreation Division Manager, the Public Access Overview and Trail Map “was developed based on stakeholder feedback about allowable activities and trail placement to ensure the privacy of neighbors.” With hiking trails also mapped in accordance with the Glenwood Open Space Preserve Long Term Management Plan, about three miles of trails are planned on the west preserve, west of Glenwood Drive, and about six miles of trails on the east preserve, east of Glenwood Drive, with various trailheads noted on the map.
“Strong communication with stakeholders, well attended public meetings, and hikes on the preserve lead by the Land Trust of Santa Cruz County allowed the public to envision the trail plan and offer input. We have a wonderful community that is very excited for the project and we really appreciate their feedback,” Ard wrote in an email to the Press Banner.
The east preserve includes “grandfathered in” leases to ranchers of dairy cows, and serves as home to 12 pairs of cows and their calves, according to Bryan Largay, Conservation Director of the Santa Cruz Land Trust. With the overall understanding that dogs and cattle do not mix well, dogs will not be permitted on the trails of the east preserve.
“Assuming good volunteer participation,” Largay said the first set of trails in the west preserve could be built in the next three months or so. The expected cost is about $150,000, for which the Land Trust has raised “most” of the money. Largay said the east preserve is a longer term process and is more difficult due to necessary cattle gates and bridges. Largay hoped the Land Trust could begin building trails on the east preserve as soon as the fall, which will take a couple of years to complete.
More than 200 houses and golf course were originally proposed on this 170-acre stretch of undeveloped land in 2001, before community opposition and concern for the environmental impact on the meadows, wetlands and riparian areas drastically reduced the proposed project to 49 houses, and the creation of the Glenwood Open Space area.
Largay said there is access to sign-up for volunteer work to help construct the trails in the Glenwood Open Space Preserve included on the website of the Land Trust of Santa Cruz County : http://www.landtrustsantacruz.org/
