CA: SMART invokes eminent domain to defend path

Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit will use eminent domain to acquire property along approximately 8.6 miles of its bicycle and pedestrian path along tracks in Sonoma County.

The SMART board voted unanimously Wednesday to approve a resolution authorizing the move, which staff said is necessary to protect the recently completed path segments from litigation.

“It’s important for the board to know that SMART firmly believes that it currently owns the property and has the right to construct and operate and maintain the pathway,” Eddy Cumins, the general manager, told the board.

“However, here’s the problem: An out-of-state law firm argues adjacent property owners own to the centerline of the track if property is not used for railroad purposes,” Cumins said. “These attorneys claim the pathway is not for railroad purposes, even though it connects stations and provides a first-and-last mile solution for the transit system. Claims and litigation are ongoing.”

SMART officials said segments of the path have been challenged in court since 2020.

The most recent lawsuit involves about 65 residents who argue that SMART lacks the authority in its easements to build a path along the railroad right of way through their land.

The plaintiffs, represented by Stewart, Wald and Smith, a Missouri firm that specializes in rail-to-trail litigation, seek compensation for what they believe they are owed for their appropriated rights and property damage.

However, the decision of the board to pursue eminent domain on Wednesday applies to 47 properties on segments of recently completed path. Of those, nine property owners are plaintiffs in the case. The other property owners are not a party to the litigation.

Clearing the title and securing easements now would help avoid the threat of new litigation, officials said.

“This is a complicated situation because we are essentially asking the board for permission to apply eminent domain on our own property,” Cumins said. “This is absolutely the last resort, but it is necessary to clear title, protect this important public asset and avoid significant litigation costs from an out-of-state attorney who is trying to take advantage of SMART and the taxpayers of Sonoma and Marin County.”

SMART officials said they have not yet determined how to resolve the issue in other areas, including where the planned path segments have yet to be constructed.

Reed Ripley, the attorney representing the plaintiffs, said an eminent domain maneuver by SMART “won’t change the eventual result” of the lawsuit.

“These landowners are owed just compensation for SMART’s taking, and SMART’s pivot to eminent domain is simply an admission that SMART took the landowners’ property rights,” Ripley said. “Our inverse condemnation litigation would have gotten to the same place, with the only difference being the landowners subject to eminent domain proceedings are no longer forced to demonstrate their ownership of the land underlying the pathway.”

SMART’s action covers properties along four path segments. It includes a quarter-mile segment from Lakeville Street to Payran Street in Petaluma; a 2.9-mile stretch from Southpoint Boulevard in Petaluma to Main Street in Penngrove; a 2.8-mile link from Golf Course Drive to Bellevue Avenue in Santa Rosa; and a 2.6-mile leg from Airport Boulevard in Santa Rosa to Windsor River Road in Windsor.

Cumins said the SMART right of way is about 60 feet to 80 feet wide, and tracks run through the center. The path is on one side of the tracks. It is 8 feet wide with 2-foot gravel shoulders on each side.

Cumins said the owners associated with the parcels have not paid taxes on the land in question.

SMART has been reaching out to some landowners offering $1,000 to buy the right of way from them, which Cumins called an “offer of just compensation,” based on appraisals. In some of those cases, negotiations are close to being settled, Cumins said.

The construction of a bicycle and pedestrian path along the rail corridor was a major selling point to Marin and Sonoma voters in 2008 to pass the quarter-cent sales tax that funds the system. SMART’s vision of a 70-mile passenger rail line between Larkspur and Cloverdale also would include a path that runs parallel to the railroad.

SMART has completed 39 miles of path. It also has secured funding for another 10 miles of path to close gaps in Novato and Santa Rosa and between Windsor and Healdsburg.

More than 100 residents submitted comments supporting the move and encouraging the agency to complete the remaining path segments.

Nathan Spindel, board member of the Sonoma County Bicycle Coalition, said the incomplete path leaves frustrating gaps that force the citizens onto dangerous roads or prevent trips entirely.

“Our children deserve to bike safely to school; our seniors deserve safe and accessible routes to transit; our low-income citizens who cannot afford vehicles deserve safe routes,” he said. “Our ever growing population of citizens of all ages who cannot or do not drive vehicles deserve this pathway.”

Several residents whose properties were listed for eminent domain also addressed the board.

Windsor resident Karen Alves said her property is part of an homeowners association community on Windsor River Road.

Alves said she and others in the HOA had concerns because the area in question is near a utility vault, underground electric and water lines, a garbage enclosure and other infrastructure. She said that her neighbors want to ensure that they will not be on the hook for the cost of infrastructure relocation or other improvements if they sell their titles and easements.

“All I’m asking for is that we get a meeting out on our property that we clearly can see that a clear survey and staking could show us exactly where that easement would be and how it will affect us,” Alves said.

Cumins said the path is already built in these areas and SMART does not intend to make any other changes to the properties. Cumins said staff will set up meetings with property owners who request them.

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