Prior to Oct 15, 2017, County Parks will resurface the packed earth Jean Lauer Trail and the old rutted dirt farm road extending south towards Princeton. The new trail surface of compacted base rock is intended to provide all-weather emergency access the length of Pillar Point Bluff.  Rolling dips will be repaired or added to improve drainage off the trail.

MCC provided County Parks with a slide presentation on trail surfaces in Sept 2016, pointing out the desirable natural feel and appearance of compacted native soil trails as installed by POST on Pillar Point Bluff in 2008.   Suggestions were also provided for aggregate paving, such as using natural brown color rock and blending native soil into the last 3-inch lift of crushed rock to soften the color and texture of the finished trail (see detailed minutes of the discussion).  The County has provided no details on the project specifications.

UPDATE 10/18/17: SMC Parks Superintendent Scott Lombardi reports that this project will likely be postponed until spring, after the rainy season.

UPDATE 12/28/18: County Parks implemented the project during December 2018 using light grey base rock, rather than brown. Finished road width is 12-16 ft. Clearly some effort was made to incorporate native soil into the top layer to soften the color and texture of the finished trail tread, but the implementation was very uneven. Some sections have compacted grey fines on the surface but no brown soil for a natural color. Some sections have no fines on the surface at all, and the chunky rocks are already scattering around loose and bumpy underfoot. The Jean Lauer Trail along its northern section, while no longer the smooth compacted native soil trail POST created in 2007, is still fairly smooth and light brown color, even with the rock reinforcement. This shows the compromise proposed by MCC, if carefully implemented, could achieve the desired results for both vehicle access and aesthetics for nature hikers.