Santa Cruz Sentinel
By Tyler Maldonado January 12, 2024 A plan to improve North Coast parking lots, build new restrooms and potentially rent cabins at Greyhound Rock County Park is being whittled down to a priority list due this spring, county leaders said. Santa Cruz County leaders released the 86-page North Coast Facilities Master Plan draft in October partly as a response to more coastal visitors since 2020. The plan lists more than 40 potential projects from Big Basin Redwoods to Wilder Ranch state parks along Highway 1. The plan tries to “improve management while preserving one of California’s most beautiful stretches of coastline,” Santa Cruz County spokesman Jason Hoppin wrote in a statement. “Santa Cruz County’s North Coast has limited visitor amenities, infrastructure and law enforcement, and high visitation levels have increasingly overwhelmed the area and threatened natural resources, public safety and visitor experience,” Hoppin wrote. Leaders also wanted to prepare for more tourists in the coming years with the anticipated opening of the Cotoni-Coast Dairies National Monument and North Coast rail trail. Rail-trail work could begin as soon as early April, a Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission representative said Thursday. Because North Coast beaches and public spaces are managed by separate agencies, a shared vision and plan was needed, said County Parks Project Manager Rob Tidmore. “Everyone felt like it was important to coordinate as much as possible” to prepare for that, said Tidmore. Private meetings took place last year among representatives of Santa Cruz County Parks, State Parks, Caltrans, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, the Land Trust of Santa Cruz County and the Trust for Public Land. After the draft plan was published in October, county leaders held a Nov. 30 meeting in Davenport and online to gather residents’ feedback. Some potential projects in the draft plan include: “Overnight cabins, (a) discovery center, dining hall and kitchen” at Greyhound Rock County Park. A tourist “excursion train” from Davenport to Wilder Ranch State Park if a train operator proposes it. Paved parking in Davenport and Panther Beach as part of the rail trail project. Restrooms at Panther Beach and Shark Fin Cove. Restrooms and improved parking at Four Mile Beach. A Highway 1 bridge replacement and restrooms at Scott Creek Beach. Renovations in the cultural preserve area of Wilder Ranch State Park and improved accessibility at the park’s Old Cove Landing Trail. Leaders from the separate agencies will be responsible for pursuing money and approval for each of the separate projects. Agency representatives proposed many of the projects, but public input influenced proposals such as a restroom at Shark Fin Cove. Residents were asked to list the top three projects they wanted the agencies to pursue in an online poll that closed Dec. 18. A final plan with priority projects is expected in spring, Tidmore said. Road safety problems Two of the most common concerns in public feedback were a lack of traffic safety on Highway 1 and a need for alternate transportation, county leaders said. In a Nov. 30 meeting about the draft plan, Jennifer McNulty of Davenport expressed concern about the lack of safety plans for Highway 1 crossings in Davenport, as well as at the future entrance to Cotoni-Coast Dairies. “There have been accidents there, there will be more accidents there,” McNulty said of crossings in Davenport. “We have to have that figured out.” Leaders of the Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission plan to gather more public input on traffic safety problems this summer as part of a separate Santa Cruz County North Coast Transit Demand Management Plan. Shannon Munz, a spokeswoman for the commission, said that plan would propose new strategies and “address visitor transportation needs, safety and operational challenges on Highway 1 created by visitor demand and behaviors.” Residents’ feedback Leaders of the Davenport/North Coast Association praised the efforts and process of the North Coast plan’s working group and were dissatisfied with the lack of public safety improvements to accompany the proposals. The association aims in part to represent the interests of North Coast residents. “Traffic conditions on the North Coast create hazards for motorists, bicyclists, and pedestrians. Beach visitors face dangers at most beaches and beach approaches, of which they are poorly advised by current signage,” Davenport/North Coast Association leaders wrote in a Dec. 11 letter to County Parks. “The plan seems to accept as inevitable a continuing siloed approach to project delivery, with functionally related and geographically proximate project elements implemented over decades rather than in parallel,” it stated. |
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