Clarksburg neighbors push back against proposed bike, pedestrian trail connecting to West Sacramento

Some neighbors are asking officials to pump the brakes on a proposed bike and pedestrian trail that would connect the small town of Clarksburg to the city of West Sacramento, saying the impacts to the surrounding land and community are not worth it. 

The Clarksburg Branch Line Trail Extension project aims to improve the existing dirt trail and create a multi-use trail that will better serve bicycle, pedestrian, and equestrian users with parallel paved and unpaved paths and increase connectivity between West Sacramento and Clarksburg, according to the project website.

It also has the support of the California Delta Protection Commission, which partnered with City of West Sacramento, Yolo County, and the Yolo Transportation District to secure a $1.9 million Carbon Reduction Program grant to extend this segment of the Great California Delta Trail through Yolo County. 

Anna Swenson, a member of the Delta Protection Commission Advisory Committee, is against the trail project.   

"This isn't a 'not in my backyard thing,' " said Swenson. "This is by no means us trying to cut people off. We just want the right project for our community, because we're so unique, right? So we figure we can get there." 

About two dozen community members gathered Thursday night at the Clarksburg Citizen Advisory Committee meeting. Most were there to voice their concerns about the project. 

Perhaps one of the most concerned neighbors is Corrine Dwyer. 

"It's going to leave us with a lot of problems, and we're going to end up being babysitters for all the people on the trail," said Dwyer. 

The Dwyer family has owned their Clarksburg farm since 1877, where they live and farm alfalfa, wheat and triticale. 

The City of West Sacramento purchased the branch line trail, an old railroad line, back in 2005 with the intention of designing major improvements to it under the federal rails-to-trails program. 

Several miles of the trail runs right through the Dwyer farm. 

"We would lose our access road, we would lose farm acreage, we would lose land value, we would lose security, we would gain liability, which we don't need," said Dwyer. 

The trail improvements have been in the county's general plan for over twenty years.

Dwyer and other neighbors say they are primarily concerned about loss of ag land, impacts to wildlife, added trash, transients, animal dumping, and potentially more crime. 

They feel their concerns are falling on deaf ears with the City of West Sacramento. 

Dwyer said in a recent Zoom call with city leaders and the other impacted landowners, she felt no progress was made.   

"They don't seem ready to work with us in any way, to think about alternative paths or to mitigate the damage that will be done," said Dwyer. 

City leaders told CBS News Sacramento that each of the agencies involved in the project "...has reviewed the alternatives suggested by the trail's neighbors and found that they are infeasible." 

Dwyer says their family's attorney is ready to act.   

"If they will not cooperate and go and get a complete EIR (environmental impact review) and do everything that they need to do to comply with CEQA (California Environmental Quality Act), then we have a lawsuit ready to file. That's the only way we can stop them or slow them down," said Dwyer. 

The project is in the design stage right now. The City of West Sacramento hosted a series of community meetings on the topic throughout last year. 

City officials sent CBS News Sacramento a statement in response to the neighbors' concerns. It reads in full: 

"The City of West Sacramento purchased the Sierra Northern Railroad's Clarksburg Branch Line in 2005 under the Federal Rails-to-Trails Program for the purpose of connecting West Sacramento to Clarksburg with a walk-bike-horse trail. The City has owned this trail for 20 years and is now designing improvements to grade and pave the unimproved trail. The Rails-to-Trails program is intended to preserve railroad right-of-way for future bike and pedestrian use by keeping the lines intact as trails. The Yolo County General Plan has called for this trail to be built for over twenty years, and the Rails to Trails Conservancy has studied thirty years of rail-trails and other multi-use trails.

The Yolo-Delta Trail Coalition, a partnership to build the trail consisting of the City of West Sacramento, Yolo County, Yolo Transportation District, and the Delta Protection Commission, has reviewed the alternatives suggested by the trail's neighbors and found that they are infeasible.

The proposal would prevent the Coalition from building the trail that the Yolo County General Plan, City of West Sacramento General Plan, Great California Delta Trail Plan, SACOG Regional Trails Plan, and Clarksburg Community Plan direct us to build. Their proposal would violate the Yolo County General Plan's agricultural policies by paving over the attorney's clients' prime farmland, which currently receives agricultural tax breaks. Furthermore, the proposed alternatives would require the taxpayer to purchase land from the attorney's clients instead of using the land where the City already owns the right to build a trail.

The Clarksburg Branch Line Trail Extension is a long-planned transportation safety and recreation project that has broad regional support. The City remains committed to a transparent public process and welcomes continued participation through forums such as the Clarksburg Citizens Advisory Committee."