The Goleta City Council last week passed a resolution that would allow the city to acquire — through an eminent domain process — several properties or easements needed for completion of the San Jose Creek Multipurpose Path project.
The San Jose Creek Multipurpose Path project will create a Class I/Class II bike path along San Jose Creek, from Hollister Avenue to the Atascadero Creek Bike Path at Goleta Beach.
“The purpose of the project is to complete two important path segments to close the gap in the regional active transportation network,” said Senior Project Engineer Teresa Lopes. “The project will provide continuous active transportation connectivity to Goleta Old Town to and from the north and south.”
City staff are working on the northern and southern segments, which are about 2,400 feet in length for the northern segment — stretching from Calle Real to Armitos Avenue — and about one mile in length for the southern segment — from Kellogg Avenue near the intersection with the new Eckwill Street extension to just north of the State Route 217 bridge over San Jose Creek, with the path going underneath the highway to connect to the Atascadero Creek bike path.
Lopes said that the project will cross or impact 13 parcels not owned by the city — eight on the northern segment and five on the southern segment.
Of these parcels, seven are owned by other public agencies — two by Caltrans and five by Santa Barbara County.
One belongs to the Union Pacific Railroad, and the other five parcels are privately owned and require the city to obtain either permanent or temporary construction easements.
According to the item’s staff report from the June 20 meeting, these properties are owned by Ochsner Trust, Kellogg Trust, Schwan Brothers Properties, Goleta Storage Owner, and Southern California Gas Company.
One option is for the city to obtain the parcels or easements through eminent domain, a legal process by which the government or its agent can expropriate private property for public use, with payment of compensation.
City staff and special counsel Scott Ditfurth with Best Best and Krieger LLP said that the city is still negotiating with property owners, and it would be their first choice to enter into a voluntary purchase and sale agreement with owners.
“This process does not stop the voluntary purchase and sale agreement process,” Ditfurth said. “Rather, this process is being done as a backstop in order to make sure that the city can meet some funding requirements that it has in order to get grant funding.
“So all the way up to and even after the adoption of a resolution, if this council so decides to adopt a resolution, the city can still negotiate with the property owner for a purchase of the property thereby avoiding any sort of eminent domain process.”
In order to adopt the resolution of necessity to acquire the easements, the council had to determine that public interest and necessity require the proposed project; that the project is planned or located in a manner that will be most compatible with the greatest public good; that the property to be acquired is necessary for the project; that offers of just compensation have been made to the property owners; and that the public use for which the property sought to be acquired is a more necessary use than what it is currently appropriated for.
Extensive reasoning for each of these determinations can be found in the staff report.
“The project removes barriers for bicyclists and pedestrians to travel north and south such as crossing the US-101, the Union Pacific Railroad tracks, and the San Jose Creek,” Ditfurth said.
The total cost of the San Jose Creek Multipurpose Path northern and southern segments is estimated to be over $33 million.
Aaccording to the city’s website, the conceptual phase for this project has been completed and the staff report says that construction bid award is currently scheduled for late 2024.