Los Banos-area farmers seek voice in High-Speed Rail Project

Los Banos-area farmers worry their livelihoods and family legacies will be threatened by the California High-Speed Rail project, yet the benefits of the rail line will be sent elsewhere.

During an informational meeting held this week in Los Banos, farmers pressed representatives of the California High-Speed Rail Authority to take their interests into consideration while planning the rail system that is expected to eventually stretch from Sacramento to San Diego.

“This is going to be a big hardship on me,” local farmer Robert McDonald said.

McDonald said the project would cut through 1 1/2 miles of his property and could jeopardize the high quality of his water well. He also is concerned about the accuracy of appraisal values and encroachment upon farmland.

Monday’s meeting, the first of three regional open house sessions being held this month, allowed the public to view detailed maps of the plan and ask questions about how the project will affect the land. Another session was held Tuesday in San Jose, and a third open house will be held Thursday at 5 p.m. at the Gilroy Senior Center, 7371 Hanna St.

Northern Regional Director Ben Tripousis said the feedback was part of a process of gathering information about the high-speed rail project from those who are most affected.

“It speaks volumes about why we are reaching out to the local communities,” Tripousis said. “Minimizing impact is central to our abilities.”

The high-speed rail project aims to connect the Bay Area to Southern California through the Central Valley. High-speed trains are faster than normal trains, with officials expecting to zip from San Francisco to Los Angeles in less than three hours.

The plan, split up in phases, would connect Sacramento and Modesto to Merced, with a separate line coming from San Francisco to Merced with stations in San Jose and Gilroy.

The line would go south through Madera, Fresno, Kings and Tulare, Bakersfield and Palmdale before heading through Burbank into Los Angeles. Another Los Angeles line would round into San Bernardino and Riverside heading to San Diego.

Although the San Francisco line crosses Los Banos on its way to Merced, there is no proposed station near the city. Farmers say they would bear the economic cost of their land being divided without seeing the benefits because residents still would need to drive west to Gilroy or east to Merced to board the train.

Others, such as Los Banos farmer Gene Vierra, said the plans presented a personal cost, taking land that has been farmed by generations of family members.

“Our land has been in the family for 107 years,” Vierra said. “It’s about legacy. We were born on the ranch. Our DNA is there. Our pets are buried there.”

Breanne Ramos from the Merced County Farm Bureau gave the rail authority a list of requests.

Those requests included using the bureau as a way to disseminate information to farmers, providing ample time for landowners to submit comments and letters and time to comply, ensuring contractors are abiding by guidelines relating to giving notice to landowners and including in plans local irrigation districts’ work on subsidence.

Some of the comments were heated and accusatory in nature. But Tripousis said the High-Speed Rail Authority is working hard to “follow the letter of the law,” and give landowners fair, market-value deals.

According to current project plans, the first phase would build a line from San Francisco to Los Angeles and Anaheim, becoming operational by 2029 and costing an estimated $64.2 billion.

The segment from San Jose to just north of Bakersfield, expected to be operational by 2025, is fully funded and would cost $20.7 billion.

Construction on 119 miles of the line is underway from Madera to north of Bakersfield.

The rail authority noted that the project would include investments from 266 certified small businesses statewide, including enterprises employing disadvantaged people and disabled veterans.

The first phase of the project is expected to employ about 67,000 annually for 15 years, according to updated plans.

This story was originally published May 18, 2016 at 5:31 PM with the headline "Los Banos-area farmers seek voice in High-Speed Rail Project."