The Bob Jones Trail extension project is facing delays due to property acquisition challenges, and San Luis Obispo County plans to ask the state for a longer timeline to spend a $18.2 million grant—which would push the project out to 2027.

SLO County received a coveted state transportation grant for the 4.4-mile trail connector in July 2021. Around that time, the county sued a property owner along the proposed path, Ray Bunnell, after he refused to allow access to his land for soil-boring tests necessary to design one of the trail's bridges.

• File Photo By Glen Starkey
• DELAYED The much-anticipated Bob Jones Trail extension project is delayed thanks to roadblocks in acquiring private property easements.

A few months later, four property owners along the trail path, including Bunnell, filed a lawsuit asserting that they had no interest in donating or selling easements for the trail and that the county intended to take their property under eminent domain.

That legal slog has set the county back on the project, according to court filings.

"Unfortunately, this process has taken longer than anticipated," county attorneys wrote in an Oct. 26 court update on the case. "[The county] completed the survey and geotechnical boring work at Mr. Bunnell's property on or around April 29, 2022. Respondents began preparing the requisite legal descriptions and proposed easement agreements for the property it seeks to acquire."

The next step, the attorneys wrote, is to hire appraisers to assign fair market value to the property easements. That work is expected to wrap up in May 2023 and will serve as a starting point for final negotiations.

"[The county] will be seeking an extension of its grant funding deadlines to comport with this new estimated schedule, as appropriate," the court filing stated.

Nick Franco, the SLO County Parks and Recreation director, told New Times that the county will submit an extension request to the state next spring, "when we have a better idea of the timeline."

That would push the deadline to spend the grant out from 2025 to 2027. Franco said he's confident that the California Transportation Commission will approve the request.

"Having delays for right-of-way/easement acquisition is not unusual for transportation projects and similar extensions are frequently granted, so we expect the California Transportation Commission to approve the extension," Franco said by email.

According to court documents, the county and the four property owners have agreed to pause the litigation until or unless the county adopts a "resolution of necessity" for the easements—the first formal step to eminent domain.

Two supervisors, 1st District Supervisor John Peschong and 5th District Supervisor Debbie Arnold, said they would not support using eminent domain for the Bob Jones Trail.

An attorney representing the property owners did not return a New Times request for comment before press time. Δ