Merced invests time getting bike path built

This is a story about a bike path that was promised years ago and still hasn't left the drawing board.

There's nothing fancy about the path, nothing exceptional -- except it's an east-west link in Merced's bike loop.

When it's done, cyclists can go from Highway 59 to G Street without having to dodge traffic.

The bike path is one casualty -- at least for the time -- of the housing bubble's pop three years ago. What's notable is all the time and energy that have been required to push the project forward.

In the latest chapter in the saga, the City Council voted Monday to let city attorneys tap eminent domain laws to secure some of the land needed for the project. Turns out, Woodside Homes, the subdivision's developer, forgot to hand over the land.

The city didn't notice until now.

With Woodside Homes in bankruptcy court to settle its debts, the path of least resistance was eminent domain. "We couldn't reach a deal with the lenders," Deputy City Attorney Kenneth Rozell explained. "It got to be very complicated."

The bike path was promised back in 1995, when Bellevue Ranch was still a cow field. The route was designed to snake along Cottonwood Creek from R to G streets and along Fahrens Creek from R Street to north of Cardella Road.

Bellevue Ranch, a master-planned community, was touted as pedestrian-friendly. The amenities were among the selling points.

Woodside Homes, one of the Bellevue Ranch developers, was on the hook to build the bike path and landscape the area around it. Deeding the land to the city was among the requirements for home construction.

Construction began in 2005, just as the housing market continued to escalate. The developer, like others, went full-bore into building homes and roads.

When the downturn began in 2007, it asked the city if it could postpone the bike path. The City Council approved it.

The next year, Woodside Homes filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Months later, the city called in Woodside's bonds to finish the promised infrastructure.

It took seven months of negotiations with Travelers Insurance to get the firm to build the path and give the city a lump sum of cash to landscape the area and keep the plants watered.

As construction drew near, the city noticed it didn't own the land along Fahrens Creek, about two acres altogether.

The land was appraised at $72,450. The city will pay Woodside for the land and deduct the same amount from fee credits owned by Woodside. "It's kind of like taking money out of one pocket and putting it in the other," Mayor Pro Tem John Carlisle said.

Kara Middlebrooks, chairwoman of the Merced Bicycle Advisory Commission, said she thinks it was a good use of city staff time to keep the project alive. "A lot more people are riding bicycles than in the past," she noted.

The city will charge Woodside for the time spent on going through the eminent domain proceedings. It can't recoup the cost of negotiating a settlement with the insurance company.

Councilman Bill Spriggs said the city will be whole when the work concludes. Despite the added challenges, he said the bike path is evidence the city's safeguards have worked to hold developers accountable.

Reporter Scott Jason can be reached at (209) 385-2453 or sjason@mercedsun-star.com.