The city of Santa Barbara will remove six trees near the intersection of Calle de los Amigos and Modoc Road to finish a bike path down the street. The city will also remove 28 trees across the street near the railroad tracks.
The city of Santa Barbara will remove six trees near the intersection of Calle de los Amigos and Modoc Road to finish a bike path down the street. The city will also remove 28 trees across the street near the railroad tracks. (Joshua Molina /Noozhawk photo)

The city of Santa Barbara is moving ahead with its plan to build a bike path on Modoc Road that will connect to Santa Barbara County’s larger bike path connection project. 

The project will serve as an extension of the city’s newly constructed bike path down Modoc Road and onto Las Positas Road.

The city’s Parks and Recreation Commission approved the removal of 34 trees for bike path construction late last month. 

“This is a pretty instrumental project,” said project engineer Taylor Berryman.

The area where the trees will be removed stretches from Calle de los Amigos to Arroyo Burro Creek, on the 3700 block of Modoc Road.

The plan is for the path to connect to the Santa Barbara County boundary, where officials are currently constructing a Class 2 bike path.

Most of the trees will be removed along the railroad side of the street because the road will be shifted about 12 feet so that the bike path won’t interface with the sensitive wildlife habitat near Arroyo Burro Creek.

Although the trees are healthy, the commission and the street tree advisory committee said the removal would have great community benefit by connecting county and city bike paths.

Among the types of trees to be removed are Brazilian peppers, shamel ash, and Fremont Cottonwood.

Berryman said the neighbors are supportive of the project. 

“It’s been on the bicycle master plan and there have been outreach efforts,” Berryman said. He added that there’s been “general support received by our transportation planning staff.”

The city’s bike path project and tree removal is smaller and decidedly less controversial than Santa Barbara County’s bike path project along Modoc Road.

Plans are in the works to remove anywhere from 40 to 61 trees along Modoc Road between Via Senda and Encore Drive, a neighborhood across from the Modoc Preserve adjacent to Hope Ranch. The trees include a combination of eucalyptus and Canary Island palms.

The county currently has two proposals for a multiuse path connecting with the Obern Trail bike trail on the west end of the neighborhood. Residents along Modoc Road are outraged. They say they were not notified and they believe the path could be created without removing the trees. They’ve started a petition that has collected about 2,200 signatures so far.

— Noozhawk staff writer Joshua Molina can be reached at jmolina@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.

— Noozhawk South County editor Joshua Molina can be reached at jmolina@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.