Plan would link local trails to county system

June Casagrande

Equestrian trails here could take riders to the Orange County

Fairgrounds and the Back Bay under a plan to build connecting trails

throughout the county.

The elaborate system of trails for horses, hikers and bicyclists

would connect county trails in a way that would give Santa Ana

Heights residents a link on horseback to any trail in the county.

Though the plan still faces some hurdles, not the least of which is

financial, it has an enthusiastic following among Santa Ana Heights

residents.

When the project is complete, the 218 miles of trails now in the

county would total 350 miles and all of them would be connected.

“We’re an equestrian community,” said Greg Carroll, a member of

the Santa Ana Heights Project Advisory Committee “We would like to

see these horse trails hook up so people could take their horses

through a more extensive trail than they can now.”

Members of the committee, which oversees redevelopment, are so

enthusiastic about the idea that they want to help finance it. But

right now, no one can even guess how much it could cost. Trails are

usually made of crushed granite and often require a fence or even a

bridge. They can cost anywhere from $1,000 to $1 million per mile. To

connect Santa Ana Heights trails to the fairgrounds, current plans

call for using the existing sidewalk at Arlington Avenue across the

Costa Mesa Freeway. A fence would separate the trail from the road.

And, to further complicate the plan, the whole Santa Ana Heights

trail system teeters on the question of whether the Santa Ana Country

Club will cede a portion of land along Santa Ana Drive. Club

President David Grant said he hopes the club will be able to

accommodate the trail, but it’s not yet clear what the practical and

financial obligations might be.

“We are looking at the proposal in a big picture type of way,”

said Grant, who attended a presentation last week by Jeff Dickman,

chief of trail planning and implementation for Orange County. To

accommodate the trail, the club might have to give away some land

rights -- though no one yet knows for sure.

“Land is important, but we’re also neighborly,” Grant said. “We

look forward to more meetings.”