Residents sue Belmont over Waterdog Lake management

“For years, we’ve been asking the city to manage the open space, and they don’t manage it at all,” Joseph Cuviello, one of the people suing the city, said. “We’ve been telling them we want the health of the ecosystem protected. We want them to put some resources and money towards it, and it’s fallen on deaf ears.”

Tensions are particularly strong between Friends of Waterdog Open Space and the mountain biking community, with both parties lodging complaints toward each other at several City Council and Planning Commission meetings. According to the lawsuit, filed by Deniz Bolbol and Cuviello in April, about 2 miles of unauthorized trails have been constructed, mostly for off-trail mountain bike use, since 2017, which Cuviello said is harming plants and wildlife.

“There are illegal, unauthorized trails that have been built in there, and whenever you build a trail there, you’re fragmenting the habit,” he said. “You’re putting humans in a place where they weren’t before, and the wildlife that is using that area is probably going to disperse from that area.”

But Thaddeus Block, a former Belmont Parks and Recreation commissioner who is a frequent Waterdog visitor, said the city has gone above and beyond to conduct community outreach and studies and that there are no reports showing that multiuse trails — whether for walking, running or biking — are causing such detrimental harm to wildlife. 

“There are houses all around the entire [park], and there is no evidence that I’m aware of that says there has been any meaningful change over time to plants or animal species based on usage patterns,” Block said. “The park hosts bobcats and coyotes and mountain lions. These are all apex predators, which tend to be a sign of a very healthy ecosystem,” he said.

Paul Sheng, a Belmont resident who also regularly uses the trails, said it’s a shame the city will have to spend tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars on a lawsuit, which could be better spent on other programs.

“It’s unfortunate that taxpayers have to bear this burden,” he said. 

The California Environmental Quality Act stipulates a robust assessment, or environmental impact review, must be completed to evaluate potentially adverse changes to the area as a result of certain types of development. The process can be arduous, time-intensive and costly — especially when required for every potential modification to a piece of property — so jurisdictions often rely on previously-completed EIRs.

But based on the city’s plans and previous actions, according to the complaint, an additional, independent EIR is necessary on the grounds that the changes “have significant impacts on protected species and natural resources that are not analyzed in the EIR Addendum, in the 2035 General Plan EIR, or in any other document.”

Some housing experts point to CEQA as a Trojan Horse for impeding much-needed housing development or land use changes that could be a net benefit to the community at large. And over the past several years, the state has developed more exemptions to weaken the possibility of weaponizing the 54-year-old law.

But Jessica Blome, attorney for the Friends of Waterdog Open Space, said she’s noticed a trend throughout the Bay Area of cities opting to construct in open spaces, rather than using existing land within predetermined urban boundaries.

“Several efforts also involve construction of these projects outside the urban growth boundaries set by voters in initiatives decades ago. I’m sure this is due to state pressure to build more housing, but as I look around, I see a lot more infill opportunities for developers and local governments that are being passed up in favor of more urban sprawl,” she said in an email.

Another CEQA-related dispute over open space access was recently discussed at a Belmont Planning Commission meeting earlier this month, with a West Belmont group called Friends of Monte Cresta imploring the commission to undergo more rigorous analyses before allowing a property owner to take away a beloved walking trail frequented by neighbors, so he could make room for the construction of several new homes.

Similarly with Waterdog Lake Open Space, city staff maintained that previous analyses of the area were sufficient and did not warrant an additional in-depth EIR. Greenfire Law, which also represents Bolbol and Cuviello, wrote in a letter to the commission that prior reports did not take into account increased wildfire and landslide risks.

City officials did not comment on the ongoing Waterdog lawsuit.