San Anselmo approves stairs, lanes and trails program

The town plans to improve old hillside passages that were once used to connect residents to rail transportation.

Throughout San Anselmo there are dozens of stairs and trails — some a century old — that meander from hillside homes down toward the center of town.

Once used to connect residents to a train station, the routes are remnants of the community’s railroad past. Some are still traveled regularly, while others have become impassable, overgrown with vegetation or blocked by other encroachments.

This week, the Town Council committed to restore at least 37 of the passages as part of a new stairs, lanes and trails, or SLT, program. The routes will be improved for better access and marked with signs detailing a bit of their history.

“I love this project,” Vice Mayor Eileen Burke said Tuesday, when the council voted unanimously to support the program. “A lot of people have lost that historic knowledge, and it would be nice to bring that back because it gives character, as well as helps with the history of our town.”

The project, which has been in the works for about a decade, is similar to programs in Mill Valley and Fairfax, town officials said. Those towns also have expansive networks of historic passages running down from hillside neighborhoods.

Brian Crawford, a longtime member of the San Anselmo Open Space Committee, said he went through county records to find old subdivision maps to locate the routes.

“Many of these old subdivisions, when they were laid out, they were trying to sell houses on the basis that you can walk to the railroad stations,” Crawford said. “So that was how many of these came out.”

In all, there are 88 known staircases, lanes or trails. Of those, 51 have been omitted from the project because the terrain is rough, or there are other significant encroachments. In some cases, residents have built fences blocking access or have landscaped the area, officials said.

Councilmember Alexis Fineman said it is “very concerning knowing that private property is encroaching on the public right of way.” Fineman asked what the town is doing to address that.

Crawford said there are a few passages that are known to be built over, but the project team chose not to contest them for the time being. Instead, he said, the program focuses on what the town can more easily improve.

Sean Condry, the director of public works, said abatement is an ongoing task for the town. He said staff has been mostly successful in reopening a closed passage “if we know of it and abate it.”

“There might of been some that have been lost in the past that we’re not aware of,” Condry said.

Of the 37 that will be improved, 10 already have been marked with signs. Another 14 will require signs, while 13 will need accessibility improvements and signs.

The council approved one-time funding of $66,000 for the project. The expense covers materials only. Labor is expected to be done by volunteers, Condry said.

Annual maintenance is estimated to cost about $5,000 to $10,000, Condry said.

The end goal is to also produce a map that will include all of the SLTs, hiking trails, fire roads and bicycle routes, Crawford said.

The council showed enthusiasm.

“I grew up here,” Councilmember Tarrell Kullaway said, “and I think it’s one of the things that makes this town so charming and other communities in Marin as well.”

“I would like us to think bigger,” Kullaway said. She said if the town could get people to walk on the routes to go shopping rather than drive, it would be a good return on investment for the town in reducing climate emissions.

“I think we need to think about, let’s build them all,” she said.