A gap in the Rec Trail might finally get closed – as long as it keeps room for trains.

Before every plan, there must first come an idea. On Dec. 19, Zane Mortensen from EMC Planning Group, Sand City’s contract planning firm, presented to City Council an idea that’s kicked around for years, but that is now finally getting some legs under it: connecting the approximately 1.5-mile gap of the Monterey Bay Coastal Trail between Canyon Del Rey in Seaside and Playa Avenue in Sand City.

As is, those on foot or wheels must navigate that gap by going to Sand Dunes Drive, west of Highway 1, and pass along a path that’s often partially covered in sand. And on Dec. 11, the Monterey Bay Air Resources District awarded Sand City a $250,000 state grant to pay for planning a multi-use trail that would close that gap by running largely along the railroad tracks that are now owned by the Transportation Agency for Monterey County.

On Jan. 8, Mortensen will present that plan to the TAMC Rail Policy Committee, the first time it will have come before the agency. There, the committee will potentially give direction to TAMC staff regarding the project going forward. In his report to the committee regarding the plan, TAMC Executive Director Todd Muck summed up the state of affairs to date, after meeting with various Sand City officials over the years. “The consistent message provided to the city is the TAMC board of directors would likely support a multi-use trail… as long as it doesn’t limit future mass transit uses,” he wrote.

That’s critically important for the project to be viable: TAMC acquired the rail corridor strip of land through a state grant that restricts the use of the land – TAMC can lease some or all of its land, but it must remain viable as a mass transit corridor, i.e., if a 12-foot-wide paved trail passes through it, the trail must co-exist with the possibility of the rail tracks once again having trains run along them.

Respecting those constraints is central in a report Mortensen will present to the committee on Monday, Jan. 8. In addition to ensuring it doesn’t interfere with any future TAMC rail projects, the potential route will also veer from a portion of the corridor that is currently leased by Graniterock Construction. As initially conceived, going northbound, the trail would leave the rail corridor at Holly Street where riders would enter a bike lane, then hook right onto California Avenue before reconnecting with the corridor south of Tioga Avenue.