For nearly a decade, a group of Mid-County residents has feared losing a small piece of paradise they hoped would one day link the scenic Forest of Nisene Marks State Park to the sea.

This week, however, the owner of the closely watched property, which sits between Nisene Marks and Cabrillo College, agreed to alter his original plan for a new home on the parcel and allow a public right of way through the 141 undeveloped acres.

"It's a beautiful area and wonderful to walk back there," said Aptos resident Melinda Gebhart, who applauded this week's resolution to open the property after eight years of negotiations between the owner and her neighbors.

County officials on Tuesday, under the blessing of both parties, gave landowner Steve Carmichael the go-ahead to begin grading for a new home under the condition that he provide a public easement below the home.

"It wasn't his first choice," said Carmichael's attorney, Charlene Atack, noting her client had hoped to build a 4,614-sqaure-foot house higher up the ridge. But given the circumstances, she said, the plan approved by the county is suitable.

If all goes as expected, when Carmichael begins to build, which could be as soon as next year, the county could begin firming up a roughly half-mile trail through the property, a mix of coastal prairie and redwood-lined hills.

Until that time, the area remains off-limits to the public,

at least officially.

Carmichael's effort to build a home there began shortly after he jointly purchased the land in the late 1990s. But a violation for illegally grading and subsequent protest by community members kept the project from moving forward.

"It's been an ordeal," Atack said.

Neighbors, a handful of local environmentalists and the district's supervisor, Ellen Pirie, who had originally looked at the county purchasing the property but shied away because of the expense, eventually agreed to give up their opposition to Carmichael's project if he granted public access.

"This seems like it accomplishes the same thing at no cost or minimal cost," Pirie said.

The site is already a commonly used hiking route between Cabrillo College and Nisene Marks and has long been popular with residents of the Vienna Woods neighborhood. But some like Kathryn Britton, a member of the loosely knit group Nisene 2 Sea, envision the corridor as part of a larger trail system that would connect the 10,000-acre Nisene Marks State Park to New Brighton Beach State Park.

"As Soquel [Drive] gets built out, it becomes more important to preserve open space corridors," Britton said.

While the public easement through the Carmichael property will complete the short link between Nisene Marks and Cabrillo, a proposed pedestrian bridge across Highway 1 and ensuing route to New Brighton remain in the planning stages.

Some of the funding for a pedestrian over-crossing has already come through, Pirie said, but when and where it will be built have not been determined.

Contact Kurtis Alexander at 706-3267 or kalexander@santacruzsentinel.com.