County Aims at Happier Trails : Supervisors OK Proposals for $12.5 Million in Improvements

ALISO VIEJO —  The concrete underpass beneath Moulton Parkway doesn’t look terribly inviting. The first signs of graffiti scar its walls. A few crushed beer cans lie littered nearby. And cattails and weeds grow wildly amid the bog, threatening to block off the entrance altogether.

But to Marlene Sandler and other equestrians, it points to the future.

“It’s really a beautiful path,” Sandler said, “or it could be if anyone cared.”

On paper at least, the underpass is part of 335 miles worth of county biking, hiking and riding trails designed to link Orange County from its most inland nooks to its shoreline, from the peaks of its canyons down to its deepest crevices.

Somewhere along the way, the plan got sidetracked. Many trails have been left unfinished, while users say that others have fallen into disrepair. Now, however, with a newly approved plan in hand, county officials and area activists hope to tackle the county’s trail system anew.

A set of proposals approved last week by the County Board of Supervisors marks the first major change in nearly a decade to a county master plan that laid out trails for hiking, horseback riding and off-road biking.

The new plan does not propose any new trails, but rather sets to work on unfinished business.

Aimed at setting the county’s trail system back on track, the new plan for the first time prioritizes the needs of the 48 regional trails in Orange County, sets a timetable for completing the projects and proposes a public-private partnership to do it. It also sets forth plans for using jail inmates and Fire Department crews to work on the projects.

The county’s trails system was to have been completed years ago under a 1983 master plan. But the new report estimated that there are still nearly 90 miles of extensions left to be constructed in order to link the current system, and 81 more miles of easement needed.

The price tag: $12.5 million, which includes $4.6 million in construction plus $7.9 million in land acquisition, according to county planners.

The county has not committed any money to the revamping, however, and is instead seeking outside support for now. For instance, the county hopes to begin an “adopt-a-trail” program to get businesses and community groups to develop and maintain local trails.

If the plan is executed, Chino Hills environmentalist Richard Cunningham told supervisors last week in urging their support, “we can leave a legacy . . . for the rest of the county.”

But already there are concerns, fueled by county budget woes.

A countywide committee created in late 1990 held regular hearings and meetings about the trail system and delivered its report several months ago. Its recommendations were adopted in whole by the supervisors last week--except for one key provision: the hiring of a full-time staff coordinator to seek grant money for trail projects and to oversee the system.

County staff began recruiting late last year for the position, which was estimated to cost up to $57,000 in salary and benefits, county officials said. But the search ended abruptly after county supervisors put a freeze on hiring.

Because of the county’s tight budget, Environmental Management Agency Director Michael M. Ruane told supervisors in a letter last week, the trail system duties could be carried out by existing staff and through outside contracting. The supervisors adopted that recommendation.

The decision was a blow to committee members and trail advocates.

Indeed, former Planning Commissioner Stephen V. Nordeck, who headed the trails committee, said in an interview that the absence of a full-time coordinator jeopardizes the entire plan, threatening to make it nothing more than “window dressing.”

Nordeck maintained that there is money available through federal and state grants to hire a full-time coordinator to “do the job right.” Without that commitment, he said, “I don’t think (the plan) can work properly. . . . We need someone who knows the system.”

But Ruane insisted in an interview that a mix of existing staff and outside contracting can make the program work.

“We have a real opportunity over the next year or two to close some gaps that exist in the trail system,” he said. “There’s strong support out there.”

The county now has a maze of 48 multipurpose trails, running the length and width of its borders and crossing city, state, federal and private jurisdictions.

The trails, traveled by thousands each year, include a few that are sprawling and heavily used--like the Santa Ana River Trail, which runs for a total of 28 miles through central and northern Orange County and is frequented by bikers.

But many of the county’s trails are short, dirt-paved and somewhat obscure paths with legend-driven names like the West Horse Thief Trail or the Holy Jim Trail, both in Trabuco Canyon. Local equestrian Tom Wiberg jokes that he can’t even name half the trails he rides.

He and his wife call one the “Broken Nose Hill Trail” because she broke hers on it.

These back road trails--often lined with wood chips or decomposed granite and sometimes fenced in--frequently make for rough, bumpy and steep inclines for bikers, hikers or riders. But Bob Hess isn’t complaining.

“That’s the only way it’s fun!” the 27-year-old from the Foothill Ranch area yelled as he began a trek on a South County trail on his mountain bike.

As inviting as the rugged terrain of the trails can be, they need a touch of modernity to make them more usable, many say.

“On paper (the 1983 master plan) is really an excellent system,” said Lauren Ficaro, a Cal State Fullerton professor and open-space consultant who served on the county trails committee. “It’s just in the implementation and maintenance where there have been problems.”

Ficaro added: “You have major sections of existing trails that have no connection--you’ll go for four miles and not be able to go any further.”

Officials from the county’s Harbors, Beaches and Parks division--which maintains the trails--were not available for comment last week on the issue. But the complaints of Ficaro and other trail users, were many:

* Trails often dead-end just as they are hitting their stride, users complained, leaving no way to reach other rural destinations in the county.

* Developers have been known to pave through portions of a trail practically overnight to create new access roads.

* Riders and bikers are forced to cross often-busy intersections without aid of signals to continue their treks.

* Trails can be too narrow and too close to streets--especially for horses. Even if a trail is adequate, there may not be a staging area to make use of it.

* There is little way now for the public to find out about where trails are located and how to use them.

* And--the most common complaint--there is no central office or person in county government able to handle their concerns.

“It’s really a very hodgepodge system,” said Sandler, the Laguna Hills equestrian who has helped push for new trails in her area and followed the committee’s work closely.

County officials acknowledge that many of the complaints are valid.

“Of the 335 miles of county trails,” said Frank McGill, a county land planner who worked with the trails committee, “I’d say only 10% meet county design criteria.”

In response, the plan adopted by the supervisors last week includes a new design manual for the acceptable width, surface, and overall use of the trails and their future extensions.

Trail advocates know that they face tough budget times, along with skepticism from critics who question the county’s priorities in pushing ahead with such a program. But they say the potential rewards are worth it.

“Obviously, with all the development, things have changed in Orange County in the last 10 or 20 years,” said Nordeck, the committee chairman. “You have to preserve a place where people can at least get out and ride a bike or get on a horse. Or someday there’ll be nothing left, and people will come and say: ‘Gee, I thought Orange County used to be country, and instead it looks like New York City.’ ”

Winding Your Way Through O.C.

Orange County has 48 regional trails, winding from the Cleveland National Forest to the beach. Most are off-road, unpaved and designed for horseback riders, hikers and mountain bikers. Here are a few facts and figures about the paths:

Total length (existing and proposed): 335 miles.

Most traveled: southern end of the Santa Ana River Trail (14 miles).

Shortest trails: West Horse Thief in Trabuco Canyon and Santiago Oaks in the Anaheim area. Each is about one mile long.

Miles of construction needed under master plan: 90.

Average cost of developing proposed links and expansions: Between $35,000 and $45,000 per mile of 10-foot-wide trail.

Total cost to complete trail system as now proposed: $12.5 million.

Source: Orange County Riding & Hiking Trails Advisory Committee