Devil's Slide Trail Proposal Stalled By Private Landowner

Plans to build the Pedro Point Headlands coastal trail, which will allow hikers and bikers to access Devil's Slide from Linda Mar, have hit a road block.

A private property owner is not yet willing to sell slightly more than 5 acres of land required to complete the connection, according to a report in the Pacifica Tribune.

The city first broached acquiring the land from property owner Dave Colt about six years ago. Several years of negotiations have proved fruitless, according to the Tribune.

Pacifica has not considered using eminent domain to acquire the land, the Pacifica city manager said in the article.

The proposed trail would provide greater access to the headlands, a 246-acre promontory owned by the city of Pacifica and the state of California. It would fill in a key gap in the California Coastal Trail, a 1,200-mile network from Oregon to the Mexican border that is about halfway complete.

No Trespassing signs currently mark a spot near where the California Coastal Conservancy and the city of Pacifica hope to build the trail connecting Linda Mar Beach to the new Devil's Slide trail opening in 2014 on the now-abandoned section of Highway 1.

"That leaves the headlands as the critical gap," said community planner with the Golden Gate National Recreation Area Christine Carey in the Tribune article.

GGNRA is preparing to acquire the Pedro Point Headlands. San Mateo County will manage the new Devil's Slide trail, at least in the short term.

Read the full story in the Pacifica Tribune here.