RR: TAC Meeting Follow-Up

[JamR]

Monday’s RRTAC meeting was calmer than the November meeting when we overwhelmed them with biker presence; but it would have been nice to have more than just 2 mountain bikers show up.

That being said however; we obviously did accomplish making our presence heard at the last meeting, as the written action item #1 for the RRTAC Board to follow up on from the November meeting was concerning the RMP for Aliso-Woods.

Per the Meeting Minutes:

ACTION ITEM #1
“Staff to draft a letter for the RRTAC to edit and send, requesting that HBP expedite the completion of the RMP for Aliso-Wood Canyons WP.”

They began Monday’s meeting by reading the draft copy of the letter for approval. The letter in my opinion was well written and actually contained stronger wording than I expected. It brought up the delays, the excessive time frame, and called for a quick resolution on the RMP.

Also the board discussed the fact that Aliso-Woods and Laguna Coast should be combined in the RMP since the intent was to eventually have a connected park system in the Laguna Greenbelt area. It certainly makes good sense to me to have both parks reviewed and completed in a timely fashion.

I will keep in touch with the board, and as soon as I receive a copy of the final letter to the HBP Commission, I will post it here.

It was an instructive and informative meeting, with the only negative points mentioned unfortunately being about bikers and equestrians. Santiago Oaks has been vacillating between an open and closed status apparently due to water release from the dam. This has caused some frustration from local equestrian users since the park has been opened on the weekends, but closed during the weekdays. This information is not discovered until they reach the front gate and are forced to turn around.

Unfortunately it was mentioned that while the equestrians were turning around to leave, bikers were coming out of the closed park. They did make it a point to mention however that this might be the parks fault if there was no signage at the back entrances indicating the park was closed; so it was not a direct bash against bikers, but unfortunately the only example used.

Also, there is concern about the steep hill that comes up to the top of the dam. Some bikers entering the hill from the top make it a point to catch air off the asphalt swale at the top of the hill, which creates a dangerous situation for any equestrian rider coming up the hill; especially if the horse is nearing the top of the hill where there is a blind section.

The suggestion was to look into installing a double railroad tie step-over to allow the horses to walk over, but would force the bikers to get off their bikes and step over the rails. It’s a good solution, but it is unfortunate that land managers and user groups should have to resort to such steps to curb user conflicts. It would be better not to have to resort to step-overs, and simply have bikers not enter blind areas on multi-use trails at speed or without warning. The equestrian representatives at the meeting were all for multi-use trails, but are concerned about avoiding a potential injury at this location.

Let’s make sure we are careful and courteous, and use some common sense in locations like the above mentioned where the potential for accidents between user groups exist.

All in all, a positive and informative meeting.

The next meeting is scheduled for March 21st. Hope to see more bikers in attendance in March.

Have fun riding!

Thanks