MOTHER LODE TRAILS
  • Home
  • About
  • Contact
  • Donations
  • Volunteer
  • Links
    • Law Enforcement Emergency
    • Federal, State, County Districts Parks & Trails
    • Running Clubs
    • Equestrian Clubs
    • Mt. Bike Clubs
    • Hiking Clubs
    • Trail Advocacy Organizations
    • Phone Numbers State & Federal Parks, Trails & Lands
    • Lost & Found on the Trails
    • Where to Eat on the Trails
  • News
  • Alerts

Another site for the Auburn bike park?

10/3/2017

 
Picture
For three hours, passionate pleas for and against a bike park proposed for a vacant property on Auburn’s Maidu Drive filled a packed hall with emotion and vitriol.

But supporters and opponents left Thursday night with a ‘no-decision’ by the three board members and the promise of yet one more hearing in what has been a five-year process to develop a bike park in Auburn.

The next hearing date to consider final approval of state-mandated environmental clearances has yet to be established. But the board voted to have it take place no later than the next scheduled meeting of the parks panel Oct. 26.
The three members of the board present at the marathon hearing on the project – Jim Gray, Scott Holbrook and Gordon Ainsleigh – voted in favor of the continuation. The two other directors – Jim Ferris because of medical reasons and Mike Lynch, who was out of town on previously scheduled business – were absent.
Ainsleigh said Friday that he favored the continuance to allow other directors to be present and to study the possibility of another Maidu Drive location nearby.
The location Ainsleigh said should also have a look west of the China Bar entrance to the Auburn State Recreation Area in a clearing off Maidu Drive that could be better patrolled by police and has fewer trees to be cut down, he said.
The location might also be popular with neighbors in the Eagle’s Nest neighborhood, he said.
“”We would have to have Bureau of Reclamation approval and the ability to move quickly in that area,” Ainsleigh said. “With a younger crowd in that area, they might feel different about this. We want to find that out.”
Ainsleigh has asked staff to poll residents near the potential new site before the next hearing date.
“We would throw away $100,000 (in study costs on the current proposed site),” Ainsleigh said. “Odds aren’t very good. But it’s worth asking the question. This could be less painful.”
The possibility of a bike park on the Maidu Drive property, adjacent to Recreation District offices and across from the Placer County Water Agency works yard. drew vocal proponents and opponents at Thursday’s hearing. The district put out 147 chairs and District Administrator Kahl Muscott estimated that as many as 50 people had to stand when the seating filled. The meeting started at 6 p.m. and ended at 9:38 p.m.
An LaBarre, a neighbor of the district’s administrative headquarters, told the hearing that a survey of the neighborhood found overwhelming opposition on several grounds, including traffic congestion,\.Jeff Dunkle, an Auburn resident since 1972, said he supported the park as an opportunity for children to have a recreational option not now available to them.
Eleven-year-old Dash Tebbs agreed, noting it was a chance for kids to be outside and be themselves.
Carol Euwema, another nearby resident, cited potential liability over bike crashes at the site and problems resulting from cyclists using trails not open to them.
“You see the signs about no dogs allowed unless they’re on a leash but 60 percent are off-leash,” Euwema said. “Signs are no good if you don’t have enforcement and if there’s no enforcement, it’s a liability.”

To see the original article in the Auburn Journal newspaper CLICK HERE.



Comments are closed.

    Trail News

    Visit this page for all of the latest Trail News that affects our area.

    Archives

    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Home
Contact
 Mother Lode Trails is YOUR local non-profit trail information and resource website. Here you can find
up-to-the minute information on trail alerts, links and trail news for Placer, Nevada, El Dorado, Yuba and
Sacramento counties. Mother Lode Trails is trademarked.