Wagon Trail: ‘a very public process’

Tom Tryon | Posted: Tuesday, February 21, 2012 10:31 am

I wish to provide some clarification and to correct the misinformation in your Feb. 14 edition concerning the Wagon Trail Project.

Your reporter stated I am “a vocal opponent of the southern alignment.” I am not an opponent of any alignment. I was and am a strong proponent of including the northern alignment with the other alignments to be included in the studies which will, at some point, produce a preferred route.

The two property owners, as reported in your article (Valente and Spence families) made the following comments:

“Tom Tryon told us that we didn’t have a damn thing to say about it” (the alignment).

“… told us we don’t exist and we don’t know what the hell we are talking about.”

“He said that he would like to see the current road turned into a horse trail.”

“… not the first time Tryon expresses his preferred alignment, where he explicitly referenced the benefits of building a pedestrian path.”

The above statements are factually inaccurate or misleading by omission. I have been and am a very strong advocate of the Wagon Trail Project. I was instrumental in having the Board of Supervisors give a high priority to the project when the board retained a firm to lobby Congress for projects in our county. The firm and the county were able to convince Congress to allocate several million dollars in funding. Without this initial funding we would not be discussing the Wagon Trail Project today. This frankly would be the preferred alternative of the two property owners in your article.

Let me state in abbreviated form how the process works.

The Council of Governments (COG) retains a consultant to do preliminary work to determine the purpose and need of the project. The COG then holds one or more public workshops to present the work of the consultant and solicit routes to be studied. This process has been completed and two of the most feasible routes were selected for further engineering and environmental studies. We are currently attempting to obtain rights of entry from the property owners to conduct these studies. Once the studies are completed, including financial feasibility studies and a draft environmental document, Caltrans as the CEQA/NEPA lead will hold public hearings. At the conclusion of the public process, the county and the COG board will select a locally preferred route. However, Caltrans will make the final decision after taking into consideration all comments made during the environmental process.

This exercise by state law is a very public process. The property owners will be financially compensated for land taken or land values diminished. The property owners’ advocacy of a preferred route needs to be done in the public process. It is disingenuous for the property owners to deny access to do the studies which would address all the issues they raise as to why their alternative should be the preferred route. The property owners may indeed be right, but we need the studies to confirm their positions.

One of the property owners in the article stated, “We know this road has to be built, but we want it done on our preferred alignment.” The public process cannot be eliminated nor is it in the public interest to accept an ultimatum from the property owners.

I have stated on many occasions that I am a strong advocate of the county maintaining the old road as a connector road between Angels Camp and Copperopolis for vehicular, pedestrian, bicycle, equestrian and emergency services, particularly fire, if feasible. The preferred route selected will have a significant influence on the feasibility of maintaining the old alignment.

Let me address the self-interest, conflict of interest, puppeteering, and “pulling the strings of my fellow board members.” These issues come from the delusional rantings of George Fry and Joe Kelly. That some property owners would include these rantings in an attempt to influence the Wagon Trail Project is indeed reaching to “the bottom of the barrel.”

Lastly, I am a strong advocate for advancing the Wagon Trail Project to “shovel ready status,” which will give the project the greatest competitive advantage when competing for funding. This includes, once the preferred route is established, the purchase of the right of way from the landowners. The county is very fortunate that Caltrans views the project as a high enough priority – this is a gap project – that they have asked to be a partner with COG and the county on advancing the project to completion.

See the original editorial here.