Supes adopts policy on crossings
The Imperial County Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to approve a new policy in which the county expressed its support for Union Pacific Railroads and federal agencies to provide a safe crossing for off-highway vehicles in the sand dunes area.
The county took interest in the matter after a business owner from the area, Lance Ricotta, spoke to the board in October asking the county to put pressure on Union Pacific to reopen Wash 10, which had been previously used for off-highway vehicle access to cross the train tracks in the area.
Ricotta explained that there is no safe or legal way for sand dunes visitors to cross the tracks on their off-highway vehicles since the only crossing point is through Highway 78, all washes that were used by users in the past have been blocked by Union Pacific in order to avoid any liability.
County Executive Officer Ralph Cordova said during Tuesday’s meeting that Union Pacific was willing to reopen the Wash 10, provided that the county would take over the permitting, construction, maintenance and operation of the access point to meet all requirements to be used as a trail, however, due to the fact those improvements would cost an excess of $1 million, the county determined against incurring such expense at the present time.
District 4 Supervisor Ryan Kelley said he didn’t like the idea of taking ownership of the site.
“We are not the site control agency, it is not our jurisdiction, it is a federal issue,” he said but remained in support of the efforts to continue to work with Union Pacific to find a solution regarding access. “I support the policy that states that it is our wish to have open access to the trails on the east side and west side of Imperial Sand Dunes.”
Union Pacific currently has plans to expand the tracks in the area, if the project moves forward it would include a detour trail adjacent to Highway 78 for the vehicles to get from one side to the other while construction takes place.
The board, as part of the policy statement adopted, states that it is their wish for Union Pacific to leave the trails in place in order to be used for off-highway vehicles as an alternative.
The American Sand Association submitted a letter to the board supporting that approach as one potential action that would alleviate the concerns regarding the lack of a safe and legal trail for off-road vehicles.
“It is the opinion of the American Sand Association Board of Directors that this represents the most cost effective means to provide access to the western and eastern portion of the Imperial Sand Dunes Recreational Area.
Since the 2009 closure of the crossings at Wash 10, Clyde, Cactus and Ruthven, nearly 17 miles of track now acts as a closure boundary,” the letter states.