By Linda Taaffe

joe hu/town crier The Hetch Hetchy waterway easement in Los Altos could soon be the site of a vineyard similar to that of Bill and Gay Krause in Los Altos Hills.

The future of the Hetch Hetchy waterway easement that was earmarked for a controversial public pathway through Los Altos last year has created another kind of “wining” in one neighborhood.

Residents adjacent to the 0.3-mile strip of land that runs parallel to El Camino Real from Los Altos Avenue through Via Del Poso to Mercedes Court are in the process of choosing a local farmer to develop and maintain a vineyard on the property with support from the Los Altos City Council and the San Francisco Water District, which owns the property.

The arrangement would be similar to how the city operates the apricot orchards at the civic center: A farmer would essentially be allowed to use the land and keep the fruit without charge in exchange for maintaining the property.

No one expects to end up with sour grapes in the deal.

Resident Scott Neely called the plan a win-win situation for all three parties. The neighbors get to keep their privacy and security; the city gets a dirt path through the vineyard but doesn’t have to pay for the annual maintenance costs of a developed path; and the water district maintains easy access to its underground equipment, he said. Pipes carrying the area’s water supply from Hetch Hetchy Dam to San Jose run under the easement.

“The city barely has enough funds to maintain its existing parks,” Neely said. “The concept we’re trying to create is something that will be self-sustaining.”

Neighbors envision turning the weed-infested area into a picturesque community vineyard with a dirt path leading through the vines.

Neely said a vineyard would be low-growing - something that could prevent the homeless and others from taking cover or hiding in the area as in the past.

The council last month agreed to abandon the city’s use permit for the property and to support the concept of a vineyard.

There are no financial ties between the vineyard and the city. The city severed its ties to the property when it abandoned the use permit, Public Works Director Jim Porter confirmed.

The agreement is between the water district and the adjacent neighbors, who claim they own the property’s surface rights, according to land deeds.

City officials initially earmarked the undeveloped area in the city’s General Plan as high-priority open space land that could be used to promote a pathway system within the city and to encourage a regional pathway system. Officials secured county funding to develop a paved, Class I bike path on the site that would connect to Palo Alto in the north and El Camino Real to the south.

The council last fall forfeited a $434,000 county grant to build the path following a yearlong battle with neighbors who threatened to sue the city if the project moved forward. Neely and others claimed the pathway would have opened the neighborhood to a significant level of crime if it connected to El Camino Real, or what they called the city’s “crime hot spot.”

Neighbors anticipate that the project will start by this summer, Neely said.