On a sunlit winter’s day following a long and rainy week, Jean Brocklebank and Michael Lewis trudge through the soggy soil and tall grasses of Arana Gulch in Santa Cruz, talking about their group’s upcoming case before the California Coastal Commission on March 11. Suddenly Brocklebank stops and lays down the situation as she, and doubtless other members of the Friends of Arana Gulch, sees it. “This not a case of environmentalists versus environmentalists,” she says.
To Brocklebank, the 15-year fight over whether planners with the city of Santa Cruz have the right to build a 3,200-foot-long bicycle and wheelchair path in the city-owned greenbelt is much more complicated than that. Plus, she insists, “Bicyclists are not environmentalists. They’re usually just concerned with having places to ride.”
Story continues after slideshow. Photos by Curtis Cartier.
Brocklebank and Lewis are the de facto leaders of Friends of Arana Gulch and perhaps the most familiar faces of opposition to the city’s long-delayed plan to connect Brommer Street on the east side of town with Broadway on the west. Supporters of the paved path call the couple obstructionists, pure and simple. And the two don’t quibble, describing themselves on their website as “The Enviromeddlin’ Duo: speed bumps in the path of progress.”
At the center of their objections is the wellbeing of the Santa Cruz tarplant, a threatened native plant species that flowers in bright blossoms of yellow once plentiful throughout this area’s coastal prairies. At this point, however, the plan has been unanimously passed by the Santa Cruz City Council, held up by the California Appellate Court, endorsed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and, just last week, approved by California Coastal Commission staff. Now, with one hurdle left to pass when the Coastal Commission itself meets next week to vote on approval of the plan, the “enviromeddlers” are bracing for defeat.
Supporters, on the other hand, are rejoicing.
“The people of Santa Cruz have waited far too long for this project to be built,” says Charlie Dixon, citing the 9-to-1 ratio of citizen letters to the commission favoring the path to those objecting to it. “Every single objection that has been raised to the path has been addressed. Building it will be a win for bicyclists, a win for the handicapped, a win for the tarplant and a win for the environment.”
Rocky Road
City leaders have been hatching plans for Arana Gulch since it was first bought from the Kinzli family in 1994. Proposals to turn it into an auto dealership were followed by others to change it to a school. Soon after the city purchased the plot, the first plans to build a bicycle path were proposed. The plan, however, fizzled because it lacked an arrangement to protect the tarplant. Since then, city planners have bundled the path plans with a comprehensive tarplant management plan that includes mowing invasive grasses and scheduling regular monitoring by botanists. Chris Schneiter, a civil engineer with the city and one of the principal planners of the project, says this time he’s got a winning combination.
“When we started initially there was a lot of focus on just the bike path,” says Schneiter. “Even then, [public opinion] was split down the middle. Now it’s a much better plan, with all the components it needs.”
Besides cyclists, who have long supported an alternative east-to-west route across town that avoids Soquel Avenue and the Santa Cruz Yacht Harbor, disabled residents have also lined up behind the project. John Daugherty, who suffers from cerebral palsy and relies on a wheelchair, points out that none of the trails on any of the city’s four greenbelts currently has wheelchair access. He calls the Arana Gulch project a “big step forward.”
“Is it too much to ask that a person in a wheelchair be able to enjoy some of the same beautiful places as a person that’s on a bike or walking?” asks Daugherty, who also chairs the city’s Elderly and Disabled Transportation Advisory Committee. “This kind of access to greenbelts is welcome and it’s long overdue.”
Flower Power
The biological opinion written by U.S. Fish and Wildlife scientists concludes that the revamped project is “not likely to jeopardize the continued existence of the Santa Cruz tarplant or adversely modify its critical habitat.”
Brocklebank, though, isn’t buying it. “Would you compromise the safety of your children?” she asks when questioned whether she would compromise on the bike path. She and Lewis point to quotes from the official document like “construction of the paved path could result in injury or death of individual Santa Cruz Tarplants.”
Douglass Cooper, a senior wildlife biologist with USFWS and an author of that same biological opinion, says Brocklebank is pulling the information out of context. He maintains that threats to the plant will be negligible and even that some good will come of the plan. “Ultimately, we believe that the project will benefit the tarplant in the long term because of the mitigation plan,” he says.
Brocklebank’s group, along with supporters of the project, will no doubt be in attendance at the upcoming California Coastal Commission meeting. Santa Cruz Mayor Mike Rotkin says he’s “confident” the path will be approved. Dixon is guardedly optimistic.
“I don’t want to start celebrating just yet,” says Dixon. “After this long you learn that anything can still happen.”
