Sand City’s dream of a bike path hits problems with parking and pricing.

The Monterey Bay Coastal Recreation Trail is a true gem of a bicycle path, 18 miles of pavement with only moderate hills, epic scenery and useful commuter connectivity between Castroville and Pacific Grove. I ride on it regularly for utility, and also for recreation.

There’s a funky gap in the middle, which regular users of the trail know. Through Sand City, it takes a jog west, behind the shopping centers, requiring travelers to get off the car-free path, meaning there is interaction with vehicle traffic before hopping back on the trail. I’ve never found this detour to be terrible, once you know how to navigate it. But it is a black mark on an otherwise excellent bike path, and for three years, Sand City officials have been hyped about a plan to change it.

Where today there is a mile-long segment of old railroad track, lined with weeds and litter, they envision a bike path connecting to Monterey at the south (across Canyon Del Rey Boulevard) and to Sand City’s northern border with Seaside (at Playa Avenue, the end of MST’s SURF! Busway project, now under construction). It will be lined with landscaping, benches and bike repair stations.

“The project goals are to enhance regional trail connectivity while promoting alternative and sustainable transportation options such as walking and cycling,” according to a request for proposals issued in May, seeking a contractor to take it from its current 30-percent design status to 100-percent.

City officials estimate it would cost $12 million, and that transportation grants could cover much of it. Sand City is budgeting annual expenses of about $250,000 to cover an additional public works employee for maintenance and a police officer for safety.

“The project has garnered strong regional support from local jurisdictions, public officials and community organizations including the cities of Marina, Del Rey Oaks, Pacific Grove, Seaside, and Monterey, CSUMB, MPUSD, the Monterey County Board of Supervisors, [State] Sen. John Laird, Congressman Jimmy Panetta, [the Transportation Agency for Monterey County] and Monterey-Salinas Transit,” according to the RFP.

All of that would seem to point to a path forward. Cooperation with TAMC is especially critical as the agency owns the 100-foot right-of-way where the trail would be built. When it acquired that land from Union Pacific, TAMC inherited leases to car dealers who park vehicles there long-term – replacing vehicle storage with a bike path is a huge boon for active transportation, even if it means reduced revenue to TAMC.

Even better news for Sand City is that TAMC policy is not to charge rent for use of its property for transportation purposes. So Sand City Planning Manager Nick McIlroy says he expected that TAMC would agree to lease the land to the city for… nothing. But TAMC’s proposal is for fair market value, something Sand City staff estimate would be roughly $624,000 per year.

“It’s more than we can afford as a small city. We are hoping to find a middle ground and a way to make this work,” McIlroy says.

City Manager Vibeke Norgaard wrote a letter to TAMC Executive Director Todd Muck on June 30 arguing against charging fair market rent: “This project provides a public benefit for residents of the region, and should not be used to provide a windfall financial transaction to TAMC from a fellow public agency.”

Muck says the agency has done an appraisal (that number is not yet public).

But the bigger issue is about what’s included in the project and what’s not. Muck says the land where the actual bike trail would go would indeed be rent-free, but proposed parking would be subject to fair market rent. Sand City’s proposal calls for five lots, totaling 110 parking spaces, along the trail. “We don’t normally put parking in with bicycle facilities,” Muck says. (TAMC’s latest markup of the draft agreement shows a strikethrough name change for the Multi-Use Trail and Parking Project.”)

McIlroy hopes to present on the project to the TAMC board on Aug. 26, which requires buy-in from the executive committee, which builds agendas, on Aug. 5.

I don’t think Sand City needs to persuade TAMC about the merits of a bike path, but they may discover that there is no free parking.

SARA RUBIN is the Weekly’s editor. Reach her at sara@montereycountynow.com.