History and status of Monterey County trails:
Monterra, Tehama, Hidden Hills, etc.
| Part 1: Overview | Back to index |
|---|
Fred Watson, PhD
(Copyright (C)). With Mike Weaver and Richard H. Rosenthal
Summary: Since 1971, official county plans have included a trail from Jacks Peak to Laureles Grade. Since 2005 and perhaps earlier, this trail has remained fully entitled through a complex series of trail easements. But most of it doesn't yet physically exist.
- County-wide planning
In 1969, the Monterey County Board of Supervisors (BOS) created a Recreational Trails Coordinating Committee, which led to the adoption in 1971 of a county-wide Recreational Trails Plan including a detailed map showing a ridgeline trail from Jacks Peak to Laureles Grade and Toro Regional Peak.
The 1971 trails plan was echoed in the 1982 Monterey County General Plan and the 1984 Greater Monterey Peninsula Area Plan (GMPAP), which had its own Recreational Trails Plan (RTP) presented as a detailed map covering the peninsula area inland as far as Laureles Grade.
The current 2010 General Plan does not include a trails map but it includes policies (GMP-3.11-3.13) that specifically address the Jacks/Laureles/68 trails first adopted in 1971, and text addressing trail easements as conditions of a approval for developments in the Greater Monterey Peninsula Planning Area.
- Carmel Valley planning
The first (?) draft Carmel Valley Master Plan (CVMP) was produced in 1980, with a DEIR in 1981 and a final EIR in 1982 that was perhaps never certified.
A trails committee was appointed in 1984 and a trails association was apparently formed in 1985, producing a detailed Carmel Valley Trails Plan (CVTP) in 1985 that was probably never adopted.
A CVMP was adopted in 1986 with a trails element.
A new version of the detailed CVTP appeared in 1994 with the words "Approved 9/12/94" but other documents and media from around that time suggested that this map, like the one in 1985, was never approved by the BOS.
The CVMP was updated in 1996 with text promoting trails, but it is unclear whether it included a trails map. There is a mid-1990s map showed deeded and pending trail easements under the heading "Carmel Valley Master Plan". Unlike the 1994 CVTP map, this map did not include any proposed but otherwise non-entitled trails.
- The Cusack parcel and the Big Sur Land Trust
A particular 397.2 acre parcel plays an interesting role in the history of trail planning near what is now Tehama. It was donated by William Cusack to the Big Sur Land Trust (BSLT) in 1983. A scenic easement was recorded on it by BSLT in 1985. Trail conditions placed on the Monterra Ranch development specifically referenced a trail connection to the "BSLT parcel". Then in about 1995, Clint Eastwood purchased the parcel from BSLT and added it to the Canada Woods development as what has become known as Canada Woods East. A project approval in 1995 involved the BOS reducing the scenic easement to allow homes to be built within it. This was part of an arrangement to reduce development impacts on Eastwood's property near Carmel Lagoon. It appears that the disposal of the parcel by BSLT removed an opportunity for a trail connection in that area between CVR and the ridge.
- Monterra, Canada Woods, Tehama, York Highlands, and Walden
Two large developments straddle the ridgeline between Carmel Valley and Highway 68 just east of Jacks Peak County Park. Mostly commonly known now as Monterra and Tehama, they have gone by various names with various boundaries.
The Monterra concept in around 1975 as a concept plan before the Monterey City Planning Commission. Soon afterwards, it may have been a component of the "Monterey II" plan for a new urban area along Highway 68 that was approved by the city in 1975 and then repealed by voters in 1976.
It wasn't until 1983 that the underlying "Work Ranch" was subdivided into three parcels - one of which would become Monterra. This proceeded to a subdivision application in 1984, a DEIR in 1985, and an FEIR in 1986 with a Tentative Map that did not depict trails. The Conditions of Approval (COAs) included trail conditions derived from the 1984 GMPAP RTP, and may have contained a map ("Exhibit D") to this effect (I have not yet obtained the Exhibits attached to this BOS approval).
Monterra's trail conditions were modified in 1991, and the Final Map was recorded for Phase 1 in 1992. Trails were not indicated on the Final Map, but addressed on the same day in a separate Offer to Dedicate and acceptance of that Offer. The trail alignments generally reflected the county's plans (1971, 1982, 1984) - with the main "ridge" trail actually running somewhat south of the east-west ridge, along what was then the southern border of Monterra. Much of this was later superseded - first in 1996 when the southern portion of Monterra Ranch became Canada Woods North and eventually, Tehama - and then again when parts of Monterra became York Highlands. The first residential lots at Monterra were sold in 1999.
Canada Woods probably entered the county planning process in about 1991. There is a Revised DEIR for the "Preliminary Project Review Map" from 1993 or early 1994, and an FEIR certified in 1994. Comment letters pursued a trail connection from Carmel Valley Road (CVR) northward along Canyon de la Segunda up to the ridge trail, but this connection never manifested as far as I can tell. Reference was made to the tenuous status of an existing approved (?) connection through the BSLT/Cusack parcel to the east.
The only trails that ended up being required of the original Canada Woods (excluding Canada Woods North) were three short segments connecting from CVR south to the Carmel River near what is now Earthbound Farms - a Final Map showing the easements was recorded in 1999. In 2019, there was no evidence of these trails - in particular, the connection down to the river is blocked by fences and a private business.
In 1995, Canada Woods expanded eastward into what became known as Canada Woods East with the acuisition of the Cusack parcel BSLT and the swapping of residential lots away from the Odello area near Carmel Lagoon.
In 1996, Canada Woods also expanded northward into what became Canada Woods North (CWN). The documents and approval conditions for this expansion moved the "ridge" trail northward to generally align with the new more northward boundary between Monterra and CWN - meandering back and forth across the boundary. In 2000, the segments of the ridge trail within CWN were depicted - with modifications - in an approved Final Map for Phase 1 and formally offered to the county as easements. This initial offer was perhaps never accepted, but a later one in 2001 was accepted by the county. Final Maps for subsequent phases were recorded in 2001, 2007, ...
The Monterra development ran into financial difficulties from about 2005 through 2011 (Source: Julia Reynolds, Monterey Herald, 18-Dec-2012).
Under new ownership, parts of Monterra were renamed "York Highlands", with a Vesting Tentative Map appearing in 2011, along with various approvals and letters relating to trails.
Ownership changed again in around 2016, and the former York Highlands is now Walden Monterey.
- Lit Ng
To the east of Monterra lies what was once a 410 acre parcel owned by a man named Lit Ng. A trail easement runs east-west through the south edge of the parcel, as part of the country trails plan (1971, 1982, 1984) and as a condition of a minor subdivision of the 410 acre parcel into four parcels in 2004 and 2005. The trail easement is in a large undeveloped parcel just north of the residential lots along the westernmost part of Saddle Road.
- Hidden Hills etc.
East of Lit Ng lies a sequence of developments including Mesa Hills, Hidden Hills Estates (Bay Ridge), Halcyon Hills, Hidden Ridge, the original Hidden Hills, and Hidden Hills Ranch.
They are traversed both by fully connected and open "trail" easements along asphalt roads (e.g. Boots Road & Saddle Road) as well as number of more-fragmented easements with no trails, sometimes on steep brushy slopes.
These "Hills" developments and easements pre-date Monterra, Canada Woods, & Tehama - commencing as early as 1962 and wrapping up for the most part in about 1983.