In 2020, TAMC executed a lease agreement with the Museum of Handcar Technology to use three miles of the Monterey Branch Line rail corridor (Marina to Seaside) for a one-month demonstration of tourist handcar operations in the summer of 2020. The agreement was never implemented due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The lease agreement expired on August 31, 2020. The Museum of Handcar Technology has submitted a new revised proposal to try again, in a slightly different location, in the summer or fall 2021, assuming the waning of the pandemic and the availability of a vaccine, that will enable this tourist venture to occur. The full detailed proposal is online as a web attachment. On January 6, 2021, the Executive Committee discussed the detailed proposal and directed staff to negotiate a temporary demonstration operations lease agreement (attachments 1 and 2).
The handcar demonstration operations would run approximately three miles on TAMC-owned rail tracks between the Highway 1 overcrossing in Marina (to the north) to the balloon spur tracks in the Fort Ord Dunes State Park. The project proponents are requesting to use the tracks within the TAMC-owned Monterey Branch Line right-of-way near to the Marina Drive and Palm Avenue intersection in Marina to store their vehicles, support equipment, and for parking of staff and patrons. The proposers will do brush and weed clearance, debris removal, and upgrading railroad switches during the two months prior to beginning the operations, which will be covered by a standard encroachment permit. After the one month of demonstration operations, the proposers would take approximately one month to clean up and remove the fencing and other associated equipment.
Under the draft lease, the actual demonstration is contingent on the proposers securing the necessary permits. The project proponent would be responsible for obtaining all reviews and permits, including, as appropriate: County and City of Marina (branch line is in the County, parking is in the City), and Coastal Commission. The Lease Agreement is clear that this is for demonstration/proof of concept purposes only, and that any possible future request to use TAMC property would be considered independently.
For the purposes of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), TAMC is the "lead agency" because it is acting first and because it is most involved with the demonstration project. Staff and legal counsel agree that the project is categorically exempt, since it would be operating on an existing right-of-way and is only for a 30-day trial period to gather information as to the feasibility of such a use.
While it is unclear if the demonstration project will be financially successful, if a future, longer term use were proposed, a different location for staging and operations would need to be identified and TAMC would need to conduct more extensive work, possibly a negative declaration or mitigated negative declaration. Such a possibility is speculative at this time, however, and no additional action is currently contemplated.