Land donation to allow expansion of east Santa Rosa trail
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The Santa Rosa City Council Tuesday has accepted the donation of a 4.6 acres near the Brush Creek Trail, land it hopes to use to extend a bike path and create a park.
The $2 million property is being donated by Norman Walter. It's located where Brush Creek merges with Santa Rosa Creek. The long, narrow property in east Santa Rosa is known as Flat Rock for a series of wide rock formations.
City officials envision combining the donation with six acres of adjacent property the city already owns to create a 10-acre park just south of Flat Rock Circle in the Streamside neighborhood off Highway 12.
The city has been eager to acquire the property for decades in order to preserve Flat Rock and extend a bicycle and pedestrian trail from Brush Creek Trail up to Mission Boulevard. A project to add 1,000 feet of Class 1 paved trail over the property is planned for next summer.
"It's an opportunity to advance a number of city goals," said Marc Richardson, the city's director of Recreation, Parks and Community Services. "It's a very beautiful area and you can see it has the potential for a lot of public use."
The area also may have some historical significance. Local lore has it that in 1829 an "Indian maiden" named Rosa was baptized at that location, Richardson said. "Allegedly, that myth is how the city of Santa Rosa was named," he said.
The city will reimburse Walter $8,000 for the cost of the appraisal and a survey of the property boundaries. Any park built on the site would be a natural one with few improvements, Marc Richardson said.
Several council members praised the project and thanked Mr. Walter for his generosity.
Sandra Lupien, outreach director for the Sonoma County Bicycle Coalition, also lauded the effort.
"Little by little, projects like this expansion are going to add up to a truly connected network for bicycle riders and also pedestrians in our community," she said.
