Pleasanton council nixes Meadowlark Trail

The Pleasanton City Council voted unanimously last week to do away with the proposed Meadowlark Trail following pushback to the project from residents in the adjacent neighborhood.

The discussion about the trail lasted more than an hour on May 17, with council members hearing contrasting public comments and questioning many aspects of the construction plan for an off-road loop in open space off Foothill Road.

Councilmember Kathy Narum’s question about the fate of the money paid by the developer, if the construction didn’t go through, hinted toward her perspective on the issue.

“If we decide that we don’t want to construct this, can we keep the money minus the expenses that have been out of pocket of the contract that we awarded to start the construction or do we have to give the money back?” Narum asked.

She seemed encouraged by the answer that the developer didn’t want the money back but would prefer to use the amount toward an alternate location for a different trail.

Mayor Karla Brown raised multiple questions about the need for a new trail in the area where other trails already existed and suggested the same to the members of the public advocating for this trail.

“For the youth members (who want a new trail), they could also use the Castleridge Trail,” Brown said, citing the trailhead near Alviso Adobe Community Park. “It is literally behind the facility, right? So it’s even closer than this trail.”

She also inquired about the fire risk in the area covered with tall dry grass.

“In your photos for your PowerPoint presentation, you show long dry grasses and basically a dirt trail. It’s not even a gravel trail. It’s just a dirt trail, for users that may have a cigarette, could that be a fire risk for that area?” Brown questioned.

Fire safety was among the concerns brought up by residents who opposed the trail, mainly those living in the Preserve at Meadowlark on Jorgensen Lane.

The new trail was part of the conditions of approval when the city approved the neighborhood in 2006, but the project sat idle for 10 years until a new developer took it on — and the city moved forward with implementing all prior conditions of the project, including construction of a developer-funded trail.

But residents of the area were surprised last December when they received construction notices for the long-delayed Meadowlark Trail. They voiced their displeasure to city staff and later to the council in March, in part surprised because of the prior openings of the Courdet Trail and Castleridge Trailhead nearby.

A major loophole to the proposed 0.6-mile loop trail, according to critics, was the lack of parking available to accommodate the additional traffic that would be brought in because of the trail.

Resident Larry Messa said this part of Pleasanton was adversely impacted by the Courdet Trail that opened in 2018.

“It has become a nightmare with street parking, pedestrian traffic, safety issues and overcrowding in our neighborhood,” Messa said, “On numerous occasions, we have had to call the police department for traffic violations and we strongly feel the Courdet Trail has satisfied the need.”

Narum agreed that the new trail would add to the traffic congestion and chaos in the area.

“It’s impacting the adobe parking lot and I just don’t see that this trail makes sense,” she said. “I just think there’s enough activity there; we don’t need to add another reason for people to be there.”

Resident David Yamamoto also reiterated the needlessness of an additional trail, citing public safety and other concerns.

“We believe such a trail would cause significant risk to public safety due to increased traffic, insufficient and illegal parking and fire threat in an area that is already overcrowded,” he said.

Resident Sandeep Duggl raised issues about the lack of public information about the project and questioned the integrity of the governmental process. He mentioned the 2006 meeting where it was agreed that the area will not be subject to any extra constructions.

“There was no discussion of a trail with us that time and the first time I heard about any trail was when we received the construction cards in the mail,” he said.

On the other hand, residents in favor of the trail like Greg Simmons insisted on the construction of the Meadowlark Trail citing health benefits.

“The mental and physical health aspects of an additional trailhead next to an existing city property that promotes some mental and physical health opportunities should never be underestimated,” he said. “More opportunity exists to keep our community engaged and healthy, our children and community need more of these options.”

Les Isozaki, a frequent hiker, said the area has never had fire issues and spoke in favor of the trail. Additionally, he said the steepness of the existing trails makes it difficult for older hikers like him.

“I’m 68 years old and pretty soon it’s going to be too hard to get up there,” he said.

Although council members said they could see both sides of the argument, they decided it was prudent not to build the new trail and voted 5-0 to cancel the project and direct staff to find another use for the developer funds.