Felton community gathering site destroyed in DUI crash
A beloved community deck in downtown Felton was significantly destroyed Wednesday in an early-morning DUI crash, authorities said.
The California Highway Patrol arrested driver Jessica Hansen, 42, of Boulder Creek, on suspicion of drunken driving after she reportedly drove her 2005 Honda Pilot into the public platform around 2:30 a.m., Officer Israel Murillo said. The decking, providing public seating and event space, surrounds a redwood heritage tree across the street from Wild Roots Market.
“The deck is maintained by Santa Cruz County Parks and we have every intention of rebuilding so that future generations of residents and visitors can enjoy this deck for years to come,” county spokesperson Jason Hoppin wrote in a county social media post.
The deck's debris is scheduled to be cleared away ahead of the Memorial Day weekend's Felton Remembers Parade and
Covered Bridge Festival, Hoppin said.
The 700-square-foot platform, itself made of redwood timber, was built with community labor and county-provided materials. It was dedicated to the community in June 1991, according to past Sentinel articles and a commemorative plaque listing the names of more than four dozen volunteer builders involved.
Long-time Zayante resident John Masterman, hearing news of the platform's
destruction Wednesday, said it was “really a gut punch.” Masterman, now semi-retired from commercial real estate and investments, helped lead the charge, along with the Felton Business Association, in building the deck. At the time, Masterman was working on building his business office in Felton — the building now serves as the Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Office Service Center on Graham Hill Road — when he heard about plans for the platform. His architect also had drawn up the deck's designs for the county, Masterman said.
“It was a project that the politicians were saying they wanted to have it built, but they didn't have the money,” Masterman, now 74, said. “And I said, well, I can build it — just, you pay for the materials and I'll see that it gets built. I can't remember what they estimated it to (cost), but I knew that it wouldn't have been that hard. People just get together and put their efforts together and build the damn thing.”
The decking was designed to serve as both a community gathering location and to protect the base of the landmark tree, which was planted in the early 1890s by early settler George Featherstone, according to an informational plaque on the tree. Prior to the deck's construction, the property owner agreed to grant an easement to the county, with an agreement that the county would maintain the area going forward, according to Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors minutes from October 1990.