On Wednesday I attended the second of three community workshops hosted by the City of Brea. The proposed trail is to be built along abandoned/seldom used railways much like the newish Whittier Trail. It will run east-west from approximately Puente to Valencia. In the future, the hope is that the trail would tie into a larger trail joining the Whittier Trail through parts of unincorporated L.A. and La Habra ( I already ride this to work on Saturdays as-is, roughly Brea to Santa Fe Springs). I was hoping to see if bike access would be included and find out how close the trail would be to the Fully Loop and Chino Hills access points. Since it was a "Community Vision Workshop" I was ready for the touchy-feely, P.C. vibes. I was surprised by a few things: 40+ people showed up Wednesday at 7pm 10+ were cyclists (one appeared to be a roadie, I counted him with us) The city staff was not only cool, but they had really done their homework by visiting not only urban trails but also true MTB destinations. The "If you're not OLD, you're going to be old" and "A.D.A. - All the Way" groups were VERY vocal. Strangely, the most vocal left after the break and were not able to hear how the city and workshop members agreed with them (give them a rest stop off to the side so we can ride!) There was only one grumpy curmudgeon and of course, he sat at my table. Not one positive thing came out of his mouth. He also had bad breath and interrupted everyone. What a sad way to live life. The city already has several funding grants for planning and construction so I think the trail will be happening sooner than later. Many of the trail improvements will happen in later stages with a LOT of community/ Eagle projects/ high school service hours filling the void. My gut feeling - 90% smooth (both paved and D.G.) with lots of shade, native plants, historical markers within the Downtown Brea - Marketplace boundries. A National Parks representative was all for leaving the balance of the trail more rustic with dirt, rocks and small hills. It will NOT be or include any MTB or BMX features although I'm sure many will appear overnight. The city did want to make the trail as wide as possible to avoid the inevitable biker/hiker squables. I'd be very surprised if the appeal for a lighted trail is accepted. There are too many homes backing up to the trail to complain about lights (maybe solar powered low pedestal style at junctions???) The good (for me) is that the trail will dump out on Valencia just below Birch so it'll be a great alternative to the street in getting to Vesuvius and Chino Hills. Second, the trail will have a short north-south segment following Brea Creek toward the Brea Creek Golf Course. This again will get me off the major streets on my way to Fully. I'll just cut across the course to the gate at Hermosa and take the short trip over to the train tracks that run toward Harbor. Who knows, maybe when I'm OMR's age the city will have trails connecting to the oil fields, Powder Canyon and onto Turnball.......:?:
Bringing a post back from olden days. Here is the latest Brea Tracks newsletter in a .pdf format. It details the latest work and possible opening dates. View attachment 2015 March Newsletter.pdf
I was just looking at an old newspaper clipping from the OC Register earlier today and was wondering what was happening with this, and was going to see if I could find anything online - so thanks for posting!
Wow didn't realize this started back in 2009! I guess I should check the city website more often. I live across from Segment 1 and my old office backs up in to Segment 3. SLOW but steady progress. Thanks for the update.
