Kathy Tracy watches as a crew from Rock Solid Engineering, Inc. perform soil testing on the Lank Tree Lane side of Bonnie Brier bridge on May 13 in Boulder Creek. Lank Tree Lane connected to the bridge and Brier Avenue before the bridge was compromised. (Amaya Edwards — Santa Cruz Local/CatchLight Local)

This is Part 2 of a series of stories examining Santa Cruz’s more isolated, rural communities and the growing effects of climate change. Bonnie Brier is a neighborhood that lost its main access bridge more than a year ago after it collapsed. Rising costs to repair the bridge, compounded by the bridge not being owned by the county, has led to construction delays. Read Part 1 here.

BOULDER CREEK >> Residents of a small community in Boulder Creek gathered in Michael France and Moriah William’s living room on a recent Sunday in June. For the fourteenth time, these Bonnie Brier residents gathered to strategize how to afford repairs to a failed road and bridge that cut them off from most emergency services more than a year ago. That number doesn’t include the countless amount of meetings with county officials, consultants, geologists and more.

Residents sat on couches and chairs, reading through the meeting agenda put together by members of the Bonnie Brier Improvement Association. 

These meetings have been occurring for more than a year, after a winter rain storm and years of erosion eventually led to the collapse of a road next to the main access bridge in and out of the neighborhood last February. Bonnie Brier residents are suspended in a tenuous situation. Without their main bridge, most emergency vehicles cannot enter their neighborhood — an alternate bridge with a 6 ton weight limit could allow through some smaller vehicles, but not ambulances or firetrucks. The Bonnie Brier community is made up of 21 households, and with most residents being elders, families with children, and disabled, they’ve been left with growing fears for their safety.

The neighborhood improvement association jumped into action soon after the bridge collapsed to start the process of getting it rebuilt, but quickly faced setbacks. An original estimate was $1 million, a cost Bonnie Brier residents cannot afford on their own. They have also had to work in tandem with Santa Cruz County leaders, despite the county not being directly responsible for the bridge because there is no record showing it was ever formally accepted into the county’s maintained road system.

Association members Terry Tracy and France shared details with residents at June’s meeting about the work that’s been started, including soil drilling and meeting with the county finance team. A permit from the Fish and Wildlife Advisory Commission, a soils report and an engineering report on the bridge are procedural requirements to move toward getting the bridge rebuilt. Tracy and France have been working with Rock Solid Engineers, Inc., based in Watsonville, and Morris Engineering in Ukiah to complete these reports, which are needed for Morris Engineering to create an initial building plan. 

Rock Solid accessed the bridge in May by using Lank Tree Lane, which connects the bridge to Brier Drive. Most of the 65 residents live on the Brier Drive side of the bridge. The crew drilled into the ground to collect soil samples and test them, turning over their findings to Morris Engineering to prep a final engineering report. One step closer to having a construction plan in place.

Engineers begin testing the soil on Lank Tree Lane, a crucial step in the slow process to getting the bridge rebuilt. (Amaya Edwards — Santa Cruz Local/CatchLight Local)

But the main issue still plaguing the bridge repair process is money. 

Estimations for the cost of the bridge repair have increased over the last year, now at $2.4 million. This is in part due to the second demolition quote they received on June 22, as well as the cost of materials increasing. The association is still in active conversations with contractors to finalize the total cost. 

In order to pay for mounting expenses, the community hopes to work with leaders from Santa Cruz County to form a special tax Assessment District. Since Proposition 218 passed in 1997, each property owner within a proposed district boundary will receive a special ballot to vote for or against forming an assessment district. Depending on the vote outcome, the County Board of Supervisors could then establish an assessment district encompassing the benefiting properties. This vote is private and separate from general public elections. 

If the neighborhood votes to form it, they would be able to pay for the bridge by increasing their property taxes and using the money to pay off a municipal bond. County staff said they are working with Bonnie Brier residents to potentially secure the bond. If residents approve the new property tax with an assessment district, the county would collect the taxes and handle the issuing of bonds.

For Tracy and many of the other Bonnie Brier residents, an assessment district is their only realistic funding option at this point. 

“In the meantime, we’re kind of struggling with the finances because we have contracts that are approximately $100,000 and we don’t have that money right now,” Tracy said.

The association has worked closely with Santa Cruz County Supervisor Monica Martinez, who represents the San Lorenzo Valley. 

District 5, which serves Boulder Creek, already includes “several examples of communities that use special funding districts for local infrastructure or services,” Martinez said.

Supervisor Monica Martinez at a District 5 Town Hall at the Boulder Creek Recreation Hall on Mar. 2 in Boulder Creek, Calif. (Amaya Edwards — Santa Cruz Local/CatchLight Local)

“We’ve helped coordinate conversations between the neighborhood and county leadership, including the Community Development and Infrastructure Department, the County Executive Office, and Office of Response, Recovery, and Resiliency to ensure residents have access to information and understand the options available to them,” Martinez wrote in an email on July 1 to Santa Cruz Local. “This isn’t something we’ve checked in on once and moved on from. We’ve continued to stay involved as new questions and opportunities have arisen.” 

Martinez also acknowledged that the effects of climate change are creating more situations like these around the county. 

“Bonnie Brier is one example of the broader resilience challenges many mountain communities are facing,” Martinez said.

Throughout this ordeal, the Bonnie Brier community said they have learned a great amount. Tracy wants Bonnie Brier’s situation to be one others can look to should they find themselves in a similar predicament. They now know a whole list of contractors that could help other neighborhoods, although she said she hopes no one else has to go through what they’ve experienced. Tracy emphasized that through the process it appears county staff have learned a great deal as well.

Kathy Tracy, president of the Bonnie Brier Improvement Association, speaks during a community meeting to discuss bridge project updates on Mar. 22 in Boulder Creek. (Amaya Edwards — Santa Cruz Local/CatchLight Local)

“It’s been a learning experience all around, and I think the county is going to benefit in the long run from us teaching them this, because there will be other communities that will have this problem,”  Tracy said. “Infrastructure in Santa Cruz County goes down pretty quickly, so anything we can do to help educate our county and get some support back from the county will help other community members.”

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