California Native Plant Society
Santa Cruz County Chapter
Update on CNPS' Efforts to Protect the
Arana Gulch Greenbelt Population of the Santa Cruz Tarplant
CNPS Proposes Arana Gulch Bike Route
That Would Go Around Tarplant and Habitat Instead of Through It
July 30, 2010
CNPS understands that the City Of Santa Cruz’s “Arana Gulch Master Plan Alternatives” proposal has been postponed from the upcoming August 11, 2010 Coastal Commission agenda. At its March 2010 hearing, the Coastal Commission directed the City to explore an alternative based on a proposed alternative submitted by CNPS.
The City has designed an alternative that it says is representative of the CNPS alternative. However, CNPS does not even endorse that alternative and asks that the City cease from representing it as CNPS’s alternative. While the general concept is correct, the proposed alternative was aligned in such a fashion as to create more grading than necessary and does not adequately account for resources.
Essentially the City is attempting to cast the CNPS alternative in a negative light. Modifications to the City’s representation of the CNPS alternative would have to be made before CNPS would endorse it as a valid portrayal of its alternative.
We are heartened though by the postponement of the Coastal Commission hearing in hopes that the City will take it as an opportunity to join with the CNPS in a more collaborative approach to a Santa Cruz tarplant and coastal prairie conservation plan that reflects the best available science for reserve design by reducing edge effects and fragmentation of the critical habitat at Arana Gulch.
CNPS still believes that an alternative path through Arana Gulch that preserves the plant and achieves the City’s goal of providing a bike path is feasible.
April 19, 2010
From: Vince Cheap, Conservation Committee
This is an update on CNPS' efforts to protect the Arana Gulch Greenbelt population of the Santa Cruz tarplant (a state and federally listed plant) from the City of Santa Cruz's project to construct a paved east-west bike connection as part of a transportation network directly through the tarplant's environmentally sensitive coastal prairie habitat. The resulting fragmentation of this population and the destruction of the species' sensitive prairie habitat, including negative changes to hydrology, are unacceptable threats to the restoration and long term viability of this genetically unique population.
On March 11, 2010 the City's project came up for review by the California Coastal Commission (CCC). At that public meeting, CNPS presented to the Commissioners an alternative route on the Arana Gulch Greenbelt that would go around the tarplant and its habitat instead of through it. Several Commissioners were not satisfied that the City's proposed plan was even allowable/legal under the Coastal Act which excludes transportation projects in Environmentally Sensitive Habitat Areas (ESHA) like the tarplant habitat. Several other Commissioners asked that the City review and analyze the CNPS alternative route and other alternatives that would offer better protection to the tarplant. It is unclear at this time when the City will present their findings as directed by the Commission. CNPS has gathered together a group of our experts who are currently working to fully characterize our southern alternative route and will present our findings at a future time as well.
For your information - below is a copy of the letter that I submitted to the Commissioners on behalf of CNPS for the March 11, 2010 CCC hearing. Much more extensive comments (nearly 10 minutes) were submitted orally at the same hearing by our attorney William Parkin and our consulting expert Dr. Grey Hayes, including a power point presentation.
Click here for Map Showing CNPS Proposed Bike Route
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Letter to Coastal Commission Supporting Bike Path Alternate Route
Letter below submitted March 3, 2010
Dear Commissioners:
The California Native Plant Society (CNPS) supports the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) access to Arana Gulch AND an east-west bike link. ADA access is not an issue because wheelchair paths can easily be built around the Santa Cruz tarplant habitat and Arana can be enjoyed by persons in wheelchairs. The east-west bike link has a number of alternatives, even off site, which could be just as quick and effective as the one through the middle of sensitive habitat at Arana Gulch. All we ask is that the path goes around the habitat instead of through the middle of it. Throughout the Arana negotiations, CNPS has proposed alternatives that would not bisect the Santa Cruz tarplant population both off site and on site. According to bicycle proponents, one alternative (see attached map), which would simply take the road to the south of its current proposed location, would add approximately 14 seconds to the commute for a normal bicycle rider. This would also create a less steep grade for wheelchair access while simultaneously producing a superior 'coastal' experience, with views from the ocean to the mountains. The currently proposed alignment has a grade too steep for many who use wheelchairs and does not have good areas for viewing the coast.
Most people involved in this issue agree that the area in question is an Environmentally Sensitive Habitat Area (ESHA) and the City's own EIR admits that there is a significant impact to the habitat. Clearly, because of this and the fact that the California Coastal Act gives paramount protection to ESHA preventing ANY non-resource dependent development that would impact the habitat, the current Broadway Brommer project within the Arana Gulch Master Plan cannot be squared with the Coastal Act. The City has created a false choice between bicycle transportation and preserving an endangered species.
Please see the attached map that shows the CNPS southern alternative alignment highlighted in blue.
Thanks for your time and consideration.
Vince Cheap, CNPS Conservation Committee
Blue Line is CNPS Proposed Bike Route
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