Locals squabble with the state over the Big Sur Coastal Trail planning process.

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In May, a group of Big Sur residents met at the Grange Hall with Otter and Trish Chapman, the project leader for the Conservancy’s Big Sur trail plan, to hash out their concerns. The discussion became heated, with most locals highly suspicious of the state-controlled trail planning process. Chapman defended the Conservancy’s right to make the big decisions – with input from residents.

But the locals wanted answers. Would trails encroach on private property? Would they be well maintained and equipped with bathroom facilities? What about parking? And funding? What role would locals play in the planning process? Chapman admits that the Conservancy hasn’t offered any assurances to put their fears to rest. “It’s true that we don’t send out a lot of communications on [the trail], but that’s not because anything is being kept from people – just that nothing’s happening,” she says.

The agency is commissioning a master plan, Chapman says, in order to finally offer locals a blueprint of where the trail will go and how it will be managed – and there will be plenty of opportunity for public involvement. “There’s no point in us doing this project without people feeling heard,” she says.

But for now, one group of locals feels like their voice is falling on deaf ears. When the Conservancy put out a request for proposals, Jack Ellwanger, founder of the Big Sur conservancy group Pelican Network, and 11 others – calling themselves the Big Sur Coastal Trail Collaborative – drew up a bid that emphasized community-driven trail planning and maintenance.

The Conservancy hasn’t yet finalized its selections, but Chapman says the collaborative’s bid is not among the top candidates. “It’s very important that the [consulting] team have experience in trail design, ADA requirements, how you successfully build a trail through a sensitive habitat area, the techniques in using trail design to address issues that property owners might have, and safety issues,” she says. “In that regard, their team had no experience.”

Ellwanger is upset by the rejection, but not surprised. “Big Sur residents are accustomed to agency disdain,” he wrote in an e-mail to Pelican Network members. “We are only included in a cursory manner when private property is acquired by government agencies. It is a charade in the name of conservation which enriches the brokers but impoverishes the community spirit.”

Otter understands Chapman’s need to follow protocol, but he also empathizes with the Big Sur residents who want input on the planning process. And he warns that, if a majority of locals aren’t on board, the community could wage its own campaign of resistance: opposing trail construction at county hearings, filing appeals with the Commission and refusing to negotiate public access on private property.

“We need to make sure this is a community-based plan,” he says from our perch on the Soberanes knoll. He pauses as a vulture passes over the wildflower-streaked hills, angling toward the sea. “That’s not the way the state usually does business.”