Farmers Sow Seeds of Discontent Over Proposed Trail Expansion : Recreation: Dozens oppose planned 32-mile bicycle path that would run along the border of their citrus and avocado groves.

Santa Paula farmer Randy Axell says he would rather see Metrolink trains whizzing through his citrus and avocado trees than a bunch of people on bicycles.

He is one of a group of several dozen farmers opposing plans for a 32-mile bike path along the old Southern Pacific railroad tracks from Ventura to Piru.

The stretch of railroad is a key component in a trail system proposed by the county to link cities for commuters and recreation lovers. The county is negotiating to purchase an easement along the tracks for the trail.

The countywide network of trails would be open to bikers, hikers and equestrians, and is due for consideration by the Ventura County supervisors in October.

Although the railroad tracks bisect Axell’s property, they do not bother him--trains were passing by back when his grandfather was farming in Santa Paula. Trains are more reliable than people, from his point of view.

“If they want to make this an improved Metrolink path I would have no problems with that whatsoever,” Axell said.

He understands the appeal of cycling or hiking through acres of blossoming trees and trim rows of vegetables. But agricultural production should be strictly business, he said.

“You can’t stop in somebody’s orchard and say, this is where I want to have a picnic,” Axell said. “Are we going to have to put up six- to eight-foot fences? And if we do, who is going to pay for them?”

Ron Blakemore, program administrator for the Regional Trails and Pathways Program, said the farmers have represented the only opposition he has encountered during a series of public presentations of the plan.

“I think these people feel that the city people who aren’t familiar with country living are going to tear the rural area apart,” Blakemore said. “I think that is a false assumption.”

But Ventura County Farm Bureau head Rex Laird disagrees.

“There is an inherent incompatibility between agricultural areas and recreational development,” Laird said. “The purpose of these concerns are just to be realistic, not to rain on the parade of the people who are trying to put in the trails.”

Among the major concerns of the agricultural community, Laird said, are that farmers will pay the price if anyone strays off the trail onto their land and then hurts themselves.

“We’re playing you bet the farm,” Laird said. “It could put you out of business if someone steps in a hole or something and sues.”

Bob Pinkerton, a Santa Paula farmer who grows lemons and avocados, said farmers fear their insurance rates will increase because of the bike path.

“One insurer has already told people their rates will double,” he said. Largely because of the liability issue, the Farm Bureau has been against the concept since discussions began last year, Laird said. They declined to be part of the 40-person committee that originally developed the plan but did send two growers to talk to the committee about problems they encountered due to their proximity to trails.

Edgar Terry of Terry Farms in Ventura was one of those growers. A bicycle path runs through his vegetable fields, paralleling a dirt farming road between Harbor Boulevard and the Southern Pacific railroad tracks.

Terry said a fence of his that borders the bike path has been cut in the past, that his sprinkler system has been vandalized and that motorcycles and even an occasional small car sneaks onto the trail.

Additionally, the helicopter pilots he hires for pest control sometimes have to halt spraying because of passing bikers, he said.

“The helicopter has to land and that costs money,” Terry said. “Ninety-five percent of the time it isn’t an issue, as life goes. But that 5% of the time can really be a bear.”

The people who are planning the trail are responsible, level-headed types, said Laird.

“If it were just the committee members that were going to be utilizing it, it wouldn’t be a problem,” he said. “But this is like inviting several hundred people you’ve never seen before home to utilize your back yard.”

The Farm Bureau has lawyers looking into growers’ legal rights to stop the county from building trails right next to their fields and orchards, Laird said.

Blakemore said he wants to come to a compromise with the farmers before it comes to a lawsuit.

“They could file a lawsuit,” he said. “But I really don’t think they could stop it (trail construction) if it was the best thing for the community.

“We feel trails are really good neighbors. They enhance property values and it’s almost like having a Neighborhood Watch.”