Politics & Government

Seal Beach Moves Forward with Bike Trail Improvements Despite Objections by DWP Property Owners

The City Council approved $2 million trail improvements Monday.

After years of wrangling, Seal Beach could soon complete its $2 million portion of the San Gabriel River Bikeway Trail.

The trail runs from Seal Beach to Azusa. Paid for by a grant from the Rivers and Mountains Conservancy, the project includes paving and aesthetic improvements to both the trail and the First Street beach parking lot and Windsurf Park. The council voted unanimously to move forward with the project Monday night. However, the project may face hurdles given the ongoing legal wrangling between the city and a real estate group that owns portions of the land that the trail runs through.

“They are trying to go through the process and build the trail with the grant money but without actually owning the property,” said Edward Selich, the land development and project manager for Bay City Partners, the group that owns nearly 11 acres of undeveloped land along the San Gabriel River. Portions of the trail and First Street beach parking lot are actually owned by Bay City Partners, and the city and the Bay City have squared off with dueling legal maneuvers. Seal Beach initiated proceedings to take land from Bay City using eminent domain, and the real estate group sued the city over its trails project, Selich said. A judge ordered the city and Bay City Partners to enter into arbitration slated to begin in March.

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Selich said the group would give the parcel of land with the trail on it to the city, if the city would simply approve the group’s plans to build 48 homes on the land known as the DWP property because it once housed the Department of Water and Power. However, the housing project has met with fierce resistance from city leaders and residents who want to see it preserved as open space.

In approving the trail project Monday, the city council overrode objections by Bay City Partners.

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The council voted to move ahead with improvements including repaving the 3.4 miles of trail from the San Diego Freeway (405) to the beach parking lot at First Street along with landscape improvements and a small seating area. The project also includes several improvements to the beach parking lot and Windsurf Park including repaving and restriping of the parking lot and the expansion of the park to include additional turf, picnic tables, windsurfer board racks and rinse facilities.

If the city loses access to the portions of the trail on the Bay City Partners’ property, a small portion of the bike trail could be shifted to First Street, said Mark Persico, the city’s director of development services.

“This project goes back seven or eight years,” said City Councilman Gordon Shanks. It is something that many people worked hard for, including former Seal Beach Councilman Paul Yost, who spearheaded the project, added Shanks.


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