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Aug 27, 2023

Woodside and Peninsula Girl Scouts broker a solution for bus access to Huddart Park

After Woodside’s large vehicle ban on Kings Mountain Road stirred up strong reactions from locals on both sides of the issue, town officials say they’ve reached a solution to allow youth groups to

After Woodside’s large vehicle ban on Kings Mountain Road stirred up strong reactions from locals on both sides of the issue, town officials say they’ve reached a solution to allow youth groups to access Huddart Park by bus.

“I believe that we have achieved the twin goals of ensuring access to Huddart Park and providing a safe environment for all users of Kings Mountain Road,” Woodside Town Manager Kevin Bryant told the Almanac.

The ordinance, which was enacted last year, bans buses longer than 35 feet on Kings Mountain Road, impacting the main entrance to Huddart County Park.

For years, groups like the Peninsula Girl Scouts have held youth summer activities at the park and hired buses to transport kids up the mountain. But this past summer, after learning that the ordinance would upend transportation plans for their annual Peninsula Day Camp, leaders of the Peninsula Girls Scouts mobilized to speak out against the town’s ban.

Town officials maintained that the ban is necessary to keep everyone on the road safe. Cyclists in particular say that it’s dangerous to share the winding two-lane road with buses, which sometimes have to cross the double yellow line to maneuver around its tight curves.

The Girl Scouts ended up receiving temporary permits from the town to use buses to bring hundreds of children to Peninsula Day Camp in July, but everyone agreed that a long-term solution still needed to be brokered.

On Aug. 15, town officials met with two Girl Scout troops that hold camps at Huddart Park, as well as the Friends of Huddart and Wunderlich Parks, County Supervisor Ray Mueller, county parks officials and the San Mateo County Sheriff's Department to reach an agreement.

For small groups with just one to two buses that cannot obtain vehicles under 35 feet in length, the county Parks Department will provide a pilot car to safely guide the buses into the park, said Kevin Bryant, Woodside's town manager.

“These small programs take place mostly during the school year,” Bryant said in an email. “For summer camps, which have many buses (this year the number was between seven and 12) arriving and departing at the same time, the Sheriff’s Department will conduct short road closures to allow the buses passage from Entrance Way to the Huddart Park entrance.”

Bryant said the town encourages groups to use buses smaller than 35 feet long when possible, but also recognizes that smaller buses are less cost-effective and harder to find.

“I would like to express my appreciation to everyone who attended and embraced the spirit of cooperation,” Bryant said of the Aug. 15 meeting.

Peninsula Day Camp Director Monica Curtis said that overall, she's satisfied with the solution that was reached, though she’s not sure how sustainable it will be in the long run.

“I still have issue with the ordinance in general, because it’s still a barrier: It’s another hoop people have to jump through to access the park,” Curtis said. “I’m glad we have a solution, it really does take a lot of the pressure off. We know camp won’t be impacted. But if anybody changed their mind at Woodside, we would just be in the same situation we were in before.”

Curtis said she’s thankful to the county for offering resources to make the proposed solution work, such as pilot cars for smaller groups and the commitment from the Sheriff’s Office to implement short road closures to allow buses to pass through.

“We all decided to move forward with what is the best way to get buses in, and that was thanks to San Mateo County really stepping in and facilitating that, and really trying to ensure it happened,” Curtis said. “I think there’s still, between San Mateo County and Woodside, working out some of the details to make sure no bus starts driving there that is unaware of the rules.”