Efforts to privatize Empire Tract Road hit a speedbump last Tuesday as the public hearing to decide the fate of the roads was postponed.
County officials confirmed to Stocktonia that no new date for the public hearing has been set, acknowledging that a notification error regarding the Dec. 10 public hearing resulted in the item being pulled.
“Public Works physically posted the public hearing notice on site, mailed notices to all property owners adjacent to the roadway and interested parties, and distributed the notice to nearby marinas,” county officials said. ”However, it came to our attention that the notice was not published in the newspaper as originally planned.”
San Joaquin County Public Works Department recommends the board of Supervisors vacate a one-mile stretch of Empire Tract Road that runs just south of Eight Mile Road in the northwest corner of Stockton. That stretch of road is under the purview of the Delta Farmers Reclamation District 2029. Reclamation district are in charge of managing and maintaining certain California fresh water channels and other bodies of water, as well as surrounding levees an floodplains.
Multiple incidents of illegal dumping, discharging of firearms and other malicious activity have been a problem in the area, Fritz Buchman, director of Public Works, said in a letter to the county’s Board of Supervisors dated Oct 22. Currently the road is blocked off to regular traffic since the sinking of the abandoned cruise ship Aurora.
The county first began maintaining the road in 1943 to help provide access to the Medford Island Ferry Ramp. According to Buchman, the county no longer has a vested interest in maintaining the road due to low traffic in the area.
The area’s reclamation district, which originally requested the road privatization, plans on building a private gate on the road with a turnaround section for the public. Pacific Gas & Electric Co. and emergency vehicles will have an access easement into the area to maintain facilities.
According to the legislation document, the city of Stockton, nearby property owners and adjacent reclamation districts have supported the road privatization effort.
Buchman said in the letter that the county’s Community Development Department determined that SJ residents’ access to the scenic route of the Delta will still be available but somewhat limited after the road is vacated.
Despite the public hearing not taking place the board of supervisors heard arguments against the approval of the road privatization by SJ County residents. Residents arguing against the move raised a number of issues against the privatization of Empire Road during the meeting.
Many of the arguments centered around retaining public access to the Delta for recreational and mental health purposes which has long been available to previous generations of SJ County residents.
Lisa Holden, an SJ County resident, says that while she isn’t a fisher, Empire Tract Road is significant for her because it’s where she goes to connect with her family, past and present.
“It’s a very peaceful place that promotes communication. Heartfelt communication that’s been integral to my family’s sense of family,” Holden said. “I can go to the veterans cemetery and visit my dad there but it’s not the same. That’s not where we talked. That’s not where he parented me.”
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