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The San Ramon City Council is poised to weigh in on a long-anticipated draft Trails Master Plan this week, with the item coming to the table following more than a year of preparation and community discussions, and review by the parks commission last month.
But the plan has been on the horizon for even longer than that, with the current General Plan adopted in 2023 calling for its establishment as a means of detailing the city’s long-term vision for its trails system, and paving the way for the growing and changing needs of the city’s population in the years ahead.
“The Plan is based on public engagement activities focused on understanding how residents currently use the trail system and what improvements they would like to see in the future,” wrote Parks and Community Services Department staff headed by director Henry Perzalonso in a report for the upcoming meeting.
Perezalonso’s tenure at the helm of the department kicked off last year in the thick of that public engagement effort for the trails plan, which informed development of the draft set for council consideration this week.
The draft plan calls for approximately 15 miles of new and improved unpaved trails, up to 10 new trail connections to regional open spaces outside the city limits, and up to eight new and improved access points to the trail system. Shade infrastructure, signs, maintenance – and the associated funding – are also called for.
“The San Ramon Trails Master Plan provides a long-term framework and provides recommendations for improving, expanding, and managing the City’s trail network over the next 20 years,” staff wrote.
“The Plan builds on San Ramon’s existing system of trails, parks, open spaces, and bicycle and pedestrian connections by identifying opportunities to create equitable access, close gaps, improve user experience, and support long-term implementation with practical information and reference materials,” they continued.
According to community input reviewed by city staff, top priorities for residents included building connections between residential neighborhoods and open space areas, improving rail connectivity with adjacent and overlapping agencies, improvements to the Iron Horse trail in partnership with East Bay Regional Park District and to the city’s existing trail network, and expanded access.
“Adoption of the Trails Master Plan would establish the Plan as the City’s guiding document for future trail system improvements and demonstrate a shared vision based on community-supported priorities,” staff wrote. “The Plan provides an implementation framework that can be used to guide future planning and budgeting to support the City’s goal to provide a high- quality, publicly accessible park and trail system for San Ramon residents.”
The San Ramon City Council is set to meet at 7 p.m. Tuesday (June 23). The agenda is available here.
In other business
*District 2 Supervisor Candace Andersen is set to provide an update on the Iron Horse Trail Dual Tracking project.
*The council is set to consider a recommended update to the salary schedules for its unrepresented miscellaneous and executive employees that would increase personnel costs by more than $1.1 million in the next two fiscal years.
*The council is set to issue a proclamation recognizing June as Alzheimer’s and Brain Health Awareness Month.
*As part of its consent calendar, the council is poised to finalize updates to its commemorative flag policy that it approved last month.
*The council is set to discuss next steps for filling a planning commission seat left vacant by the resignation of Max Zhang last month.
