The San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors must find an alternative to eminent domain to acquire the missing piece of land required to complete the long-awaited Bob Jones Trail.

• File Photo By Jayson Mellom
• MULTIPLE BENEFITS Several community members urged supervisors to take the first step toward eminent domain because a completed Bob Jones pathway would address commuting and fire safety issues.

"Any other project, I'd be saying the same thing: The use of eminent domain to me violates the property rights pillar element that I just won't be interested in supporting," 5th District Supervisor Debbie Arnold said at the Aug. 20 meeting.

Arnold's dissent in the 3-1 vote prevented supervisors from adopting the resolution of necessity—the first step of the eminent domain process that affords governments the ability to take private property for public use and reimburse the landowner for its value. First District Supervisor John Peschong recused himself because he accepted a political campaign donation of more than $250 from the family of Ray Bunnell.

In 2023, Bunnell donated $1,750 to the John Peschong for Supervisor 2024 committee, according to campaign filing documents.

Bunnell owns a 146-acre ranch along Highway 1/101 that contains coveted portions of land needed to close the Bob Jones City-to-Sea path. Specifically, the county wants a 1.2-acre permanent easement and a 1.02-acre three-year temporary construction easement to finish the project on Bunnell's land. In theory, the area covered by the temporary easement would be restored to its original condition and returned to Bunnell once the county closes the gap in the Bob Jones pathway.

But Bunnell hasn't budged. Since at least 2010, he's adamantly refused to sell that portion of his property, citing concerns about flooding, fence damage from trail users, and intrusion of the homeless who live in an encampment along the trail in SLO.

"This path has been pushed to the absolute limit up against Highway 1. We're not striking a path in the middle of anybody's property," 2nd District Supervisor Bruce Gibson said at the Aug. 20 meeting. "We are locating this in a way and have engaged in long negotiations to try to accommodate the concerns expressed by the property owner to no effect."

Several community members also urged the supervisors to adopt the resolution of necessity.

"We and thousands of other trail users want this trail or pathway completed for many reasons, and safety is first among them," SLO resident Karen Aydelott said. "The Bob Jones trail connection is both a critical fire and bicycle-pedestrian safety issue."

Through an independent appraisal, the county found that the required easements from Bunnell's land and severance damages are worth $207,500. Right of Way Agent Valorie Moore told supervisors at the Aug. 20 meeting that Bunnell rejected the county's offers of just compensation in June 2023 and in May 2024.

Since 2002, SLO County has spent $6.8 million in county funds, community donations, and state and federal grants on the Bob Jones pathway closure project.

But it's running out of time to use up an $18.25 million grant from the California Transportation Commission's Active Transportation Program to finish the project. Though the SLO County Parks and Recreation Department secured an expenditure deadline extension to 2027, that money must be used to award a construction contract in February 2025.

"Mr. Bunnell is none of our constituents. He's not even living here. If there was another alternative, we would be doing it," 3rd District Supervisor Dawn Ortiz-Legg said. "This was wasted, when we could have been straight through on this thing, taken the $18 million and just get it done. But no, we didn't. I think we've killed this thing over and over again."

Ortiz-Legg went on to make another motion immediately at the end of the heated vote—to direct staff to find another path forward to close the trail and bring back that option before them. The supervisors unanimously agreed on the motion. Δ