To help fund workshops and other outreach efforts for public input about a proposed 10-mile bike and walking path through the Santa Ynez Valley, Solvang recently agreed to set aside $30,000.
“We don’t want to step on toes. We want to learn from the community and see what works best,” Michael Becker, planning director for the Santa Barbara County Association of Governments (SBCAG), told the Solvang City Council at its Nov. 24 meeting.
Becker described SBCAG’s request for a $30,000 contribution as giving Solvang some “skin in the game” during the River Trail project’s upcoming design and planning phase.
According to the staff report, denying the request would directly result in “Solvang’s limited participation in regional trail planning efforts,” despite Solvang’s $20,000 contribution toward the project’s pursuit of an active transportation program grant in 2024.
“City staff strongly recommends participating in this valley-wide effort, as the project aligns with the city’s active transportation plan and general plan goals to enhance multimodal connectivity for residents and visitors,” Solvang Public Works Director Bridget Paris stated in the staff report.
The city of Solvang encompasses one segment of the proposed River Trail, planned to stretch between the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians Reservation and Buellton with new paths and modified existing routes to accommodate walkers, bicyclists, and equestrians.
“There’s going to be a lot of engagement on this. We’ll be coming back to the council. We’ll be meeting with residents and stakeholder groups to determine what is the alignment of a future trail that works,” Planning Director Becker said at the meeting. “We’re not there yet. We want this process to play out. I have no preconceived notions. I just know what the two end points are. How we’ll connect them? We’ll learn that over the next year or so.”
Becker said that the $30,000 will bring the project’s Solvang component to a conceptual design phase, which will entail exploring different ways to develop the trail’s path through the city.
“What we would receive from that basically would be a lot of public outreach and community engagement to ultimately identify a primary path through Solvang,” Public Works Director Paris told the council.
Reaching the design phase for Solvang’s segment would also help SBCAG determine exactly how much money the River Trail, envisioned with a total of six segments, will cost sooner rather than later, Becker explained.
“We could see how much this is going to cost to implement, because we don’t want to be applying for construction grant funds without knowing,” Becker said. “We don’t want to under ask and then come to a point where we’re 75 percent done building something and run out of money.”
Before the council voted 5-0 to approve the $30,000 allocation, 4th District Councilmember Elizabeth Orona asked staff about SBCAG’s pursuit of additional funds through the state’s Active Transportation Program.
“Twice we applied for state grant funds through the Active Transportation Program, and both times we were not successful,” Becker said. “I think, first off, the valley is at a disadvantage in the program because it doesn’t have sufficient disadvantaged communities—which is not a disadvantage, but the program favors areas with a lot of disadvantaged in their population.”
“I think we were probably not successful through that program because within that application, it probably showed we weren’t ready—that we needed to go through this process,” Becker added.
This article appears in Dec 4 – Dec 11, 2025.