Girl Scouts gathered to sing camp songs outside of Independence Hall in Woodside in anticipation of a Town Council meeting on Tuesday night, June 27, to oppose a new ordinance that limits bus access into Huddart Park. About 100 people filled council chambers, some in support and some opposed, during an hour and a half of public comments.
A roughly equal number of people spoke in favor of and against the ordinance, which passed in October 2022 and prohibits vehicles over 35 feet in length, like the Girl Scout day camp buses, from driving the last half-mile of Kings Mountain Road to the entrance of Huddart Park. Town staff cited the potential danger to other motorists and cyclists posed by large vehicles traveling the narrow and winding roadway and crossing over into the oncoming lane while navigating sharp curves.
The Peninsula Girl Scouts have been vocal over the last two weeks about their opposition to the law. The town on June 26 offered the group a permit for its two-week camp in July, and offered to revisit the ordinance and the issue of future bus use later in the summer. The offer hasn't satisfied the Girl Scouts, who are seeking a longer-term solution that applies to all groups using the San Mateo County park located at 1100 Kings Mountain Road.
Woodside Mayor Chris Shaw has said that with the long-term closure of Highway 84 since early March, the town can't afford to have Kings Mountain Road blocked if a bus ends up going off the road or can't make turns, especially heading into fire season. The town's ordinance was not arbitrary, he said.
County Supervisor Ray Mueller said the county could cover the costs of Parks rangers or Sheriff's officers escorting the buses into camp. He also suggested the town nix the bus permit fee.
Bicyclists and locals shared their stories of dangerous conditions on the road.
Woodside resident and biker George Burkhard said he was recently injured — his lip cut up into his gums — when a school bus on Kings Mountain Road went across the centerline. The person in front of him made an emergency stop and he slammed into the car. He supported the idea of an escort to assist the buses.
"There is an ongoing danger," he said. "I really appreciate the need for Scouts and for everyone to get access to our parks. … This is one of the reasons I moved up here, especially as a cyclist and also as a lover of the outdoors. But there are other options out there that preserve safety for everyone."
Rob Waring, a board member for the nonprofit Safe Shared Streets, noted that there's got to be some other way to get people into this park other than using large buses.
"If someone is killed because they hit a bus or just trying to negotiate this road, how much is that worth?" he said.
Another asked: "How would you feel to have a bus full of Girl Scouts watch someone die plowing into the side of the bus? How do you explain that?"
Woodside resident Ehsan Farkhondeh said the issue at stake isn't an equity issue but a geometry issue.
"And at no point did you guys (the Town Council) nefariously say you wanted to limit access to people who can't make it up there," he said. "I challenge anybody to go up there with a 40-foot vehicle and stay on their side of the double yellow and drive to Huddart Park. It is not possible."
Nancy Ridgeway, a board member for Friends of Huddart and Wunderlich Parks, said the ordinance is "inadvertently placing a burden on our most marginalized communities."
The group had to scramble in early June to rearrange plans for about 125 students from East Palo Alto Charter School and Redwood City Early Childhood Development Center who were signed up for its hiking program in Huddart Park and switch it to Wunderlich Park, according to organizers.
"The new Kings Mountain Road ordinance has, and will continue, to severely affect our nature hiking program for children, inadvertently placing a burden on our most marginalized communities and adding to the systemic barriers to low-income schools that have a hard time providing field trips for students," she said. "They have trouble obtaining volunteer parent drivers and chaperones and they also lack funds for paying for field trips, including expensive buses. We remove these barriers so that all children can experience the magic of our redwood forests."
San Mateo County Parks Foundation Executive Director Michele Beasley told the council that the purpose of her group is to help residents enjoy the significant mental, physical and emotional benefits of time well spent in nature.
"I was shocked and disappointed to learn that the Woodside Town Council is doing its best to create more barriers," she said. "Barriers that specifically prevent children from visiting Huddart Park. Huddart Park is a favorite destination for field trips as it offers miles of trails and lots of picnic areas. … One would think that such a drastic measure impacting a county facility would have been shared with San Mateo County at the very least."
Others pointed out that the ordinance has been in place since the end of the year and discussed at publicly noticed meetings.
Resident and former council candidate Steve Lubin suggested that if the county removed the guard rail at the intersection of the lower service entrance to the park and Greer Road, there's enough room to back the bus around there and it would be a great place to unload kids.
"It's not far from where they parked the buses now," he said.
Girl Scouts meeting with the town last week
Girls Scouts representatives met with both the San Mateo County Sheriff's Office and town staff to discuss a compromise on Wednesday, June 21. The town plans to have signs alerting other drivers that camp buses will be on Kings Mountain Road during the morning drop-off and afternoon pick-up hours, according to an email sent to the Girl Scouts on June 21 that summarized the meeting. The Sheriff's Department and the County Parks Department plans to assist in getting the Girl Scouts' buses into the park.
The Girl Scouts said it submitted a bus permit request on June 12 and was informed it was on "hold" because the electric buses it chartered for the day camp are 39.5 feet long. The town denied the permit on June 15. Historically, the Girl Scouts said they have used school buses that were even bigger, at 40 to 45 feet long.
