Del Rey Oaks initiative that could kill FORTAG – Measure B – is narrowly behind in early results.

The fate of a 28-mile Fort Ord Regional Trail and Greenway hangs in the balance pending the outcome Measure B, a Del Rey Oaks ballot initiative brought by resident Tom Rivelli. It would preclude any new trails in the city unless they travel along Highway 218, Gen. Jim Moore Boulevard or South Boundary Road.

If it passes, it would make it harder, if not impossible, to complete the FORTAG loop, which spans from Del Rey Oaks to Marina, and travels both through the former Fort Ord and connects at the north and south to the Rec Trail.

That’s because FORTAG’s proposed Del Rey Oaks segment – a 1.5-mile path from Safeway through two city parks, which would then pass under Highway 2018 before spilling out onto Carlton Drive – is the first segment to be funded (the state awarded a $10.3 million grant to help build it), and as TAMC Executive Director Todd Muck told the Weekly last fall, “It’s important to show you can deliver on what you promise, and this is the first funded segment.”

As the first batch of election results came in on Tuesday night, June 7, City Councilmember Kim Shirley – who helped lead the campaign to defeat the measure, in a city with 1,216 registered voters – is cautiously optimistic. “We’ve put a lot of work into this campaign, and I’d like to think our hard work is going to pay off,” she says.

Results as of 10pm showed 52.2 percent of voters against it, an auspicious sign for FORTAG proponents. But, Shirley texted after the first results came out, “Closer than I would like!” As of midnight, the No on B position was ahead by just 10 votes.

Don Gruber, a proponent of the measure, says that while he hopes it passes, he and fellow proponents plan to honor the will of voters.

“At the end, we just want everyone to make a decision based on all the information they have,” he says. “Then the democratic process has been successful.”