C
chumbaracing
Guest
Another Victory For Sierra Club - Rancho Palos Verdes Bans Mountain Bikes from Many Trails
City Council ditches plan that was years in making for a more conservative one concerning the Forrestal property. But the decision won't take effect yet.
By Nick Green, Daily Breeze
Mountain bikers who use the 160-acre former quarry known as the Forrestal property in Rancho Palos Verdes will soon find themselves banned from more than half the hilly trails there that they currently enjoy.
The Rancho Palos Verdes City Council made the surprise decision Saturday at the conclusion of an all-day workshop, attended at its peak by more than 100 people, that was held in part to determine trail usage on the tract.
The unanimous decision stunned local cyclists and the staff of the nonprofit Palos Verdes Peninsula Land Conservancy, which is managing the land for the city. About 45 meetings over the past three years have been held to carefully craft a plan for trail usage that balanced the competing concerns of hikers, conservationists, cyclists and equestrians.
Such a drastic reduction in trails mountain bikers could use was not contemplated in the usage plan a steering committee had recommended.
Instead it was adopted from an alternate plan pushed by the local Sierra Club chapter.
"I don't know how we're supposed to manage it," snapped a frustrated Barbara Dye, the conservancy's executive director, after the meeting. She declined to elaborate.
Local members of the recently formed Palos Verdes chapter of the Concerned Off Road Bicyclists Association, quickly left the meeting before they could be asked for their reaction.
"We're not anti-mountain bike," Councilman Larry Clark said. "But we do have concerns over the safety and stability of existing trails."
Officials said they would re-evaluate the ban on a trail-by-trail basis once repairs were made. Those safety improvements would be given priority although it's unknown how much they will cost or how long they will take.
"It's backwards to allow multiple (trail) uses just because they are there now when we know there are deficiencies that need to be corrected," Councilman Tom Long said.
The decision came at the end of a seven-hour meeting where participants had collectively patted themselves on the back for holding a cordial and thoughtful discussion over what has been a hot-button issue. In part, that's because the general perception is that the accepted trail uses on the Forrestal property, that is a cornerstone of a proposed nature preserve, will become a blueprint for the hundreds of acres of open space in the Portuguese Bend area the city has spent years trying to acquire.
The meeting was intended to resolve several major issues, including a general management plan for the property, but much of the discussion centered around whether mountain biking was an acceptable activity in a nature preserve.
The recommended plan allowed walkers, bicyclists and horse riders to use 12 of the 21 trails, with seven designed for pedestrian and bicycle use only and two restricted for just hikers.
But naturalist Martin Byhower, representing the local chapter of the Audubon Society, complained that sharing many of the trails with participants in the extreme sport of mountain biking would "ruin my experience" of hiking in the area. "This (recommended plan) allows mountain bikes on (almost) every single trail and that to me isn't balance," he said.
But mountain bikers, who in recent months have sought to rehabilitate their rather wild image by repairing trails on the property and participating in the political process, argued that restricting trail uses breeds ill will and territoriality.
Members of the local CORBA mountain bike chapter had also planned to create a volunteer Educational Trails Unit with a horse-riding group to monitor trail usage. It's unclear whether that will occur now, Dye said.
Multi-use trails mean that all users can share the philosophy that boils down to "expect one another, respect one another," said Jim Hasenauer, a CORBA co-founder and board member with the International Mountain Bicycling Association.
"A shared-use system allows people to disperse in the best kind of way," said the Woodland Hills resident. "If people are acting responsibly, the nature of the (mountain biking) activity is that it's very much a low-impact sport."
Council members disagreed though and adopted a plan much more restrictive toward the sport than the recommended version. Dye, of the Palos Verdes Land Conservancy, said mountain bikers will be able to use only about a half-dozen trails.
But bicycle riders won't have to give up their trails immediately. The council failed to get around to adopting a comprehensive management plan that included directing staff to adopt code amendments restricting bicycle use.
City Council ditches plan that was years in making for a more conservative one concerning the Forrestal property. But the decision won't take effect yet.
By Nick Green, Daily Breeze
Mountain bikers who use the 160-acre former quarry known as the Forrestal property in Rancho Palos Verdes will soon find themselves banned from more than half the hilly trails there that they currently enjoy.
The Rancho Palos Verdes City Council made the surprise decision Saturday at the conclusion of an all-day workshop, attended at its peak by more than 100 people, that was held in part to determine trail usage on the tract.
The unanimous decision stunned local cyclists and the staff of the nonprofit Palos Verdes Peninsula Land Conservancy, which is managing the land for the city. About 45 meetings over the past three years have been held to carefully craft a plan for trail usage that balanced the competing concerns of hikers, conservationists, cyclists and equestrians.
Such a drastic reduction in trails mountain bikers could use was not contemplated in the usage plan a steering committee had recommended.
Instead it was adopted from an alternate plan pushed by the local Sierra Club chapter.
"I don't know how we're supposed to manage it," snapped a frustrated Barbara Dye, the conservancy's executive director, after the meeting. She declined to elaborate.
Local members of the recently formed Palos Verdes chapter of the Concerned Off Road Bicyclists Association, quickly left the meeting before they could be asked for their reaction.
"We're not anti-mountain bike," Councilman Larry Clark said. "But we do have concerns over the safety and stability of existing trails."
Officials said they would re-evaluate the ban on a trail-by-trail basis once repairs were made. Those safety improvements would be given priority although it's unknown how much they will cost or how long they will take.
"It's backwards to allow multiple (trail) uses just because they are there now when we know there are deficiencies that need to be corrected," Councilman Tom Long said.
The decision came at the end of a seven-hour meeting where participants had collectively patted themselves on the back for holding a cordial and thoughtful discussion over what has been a hot-button issue. In part, that's because the general perception is that the accepted trail uses on the Forrestal property, that is a cornerstone of a proposed nature preserve, will become a blueprint for the hundreds of acres of open space in the Portuguese Bend area the city has spent years trying to acquire.
The meeting was intended to resolve several major issues, including a general management plan for the property, but much of the discussion centered around whether mountain biking was an acceptable activity in a nature preserve.
The recommended plan allowed walkers, bicyclists and horse riders to use 12 of the 21 trails, with seven designed for pedestrian and bicycle use only and two restricted for just hikers.
But naturalist Martin Byhower, representing the local chapter of the Audubon Society, complained that sharing many of the trails with participants in the extreme sport of mountain biking would "ruin my experience" of hiking in the area. "This (recommended plan) allows mountain bikes on (almost) every single trail and that to me isn't balance," he said.
But mountain bikers, who in recent months have sought to rehabilitate their rather wild image by repairing trails on the property and participating in the political process, argued that restricting trail uses breeds ill will and territoriality.
Members of the local CORBA mountain bike chapter had also planned to create a volunteer Educational Trails Unit with a horse-riding group to monitor trail usage. It's unclear whether that will occur now, Dye said.
Multi-use trails mean that all users can share the philosophy that boils down to "expect one another, respect one another," said Jim Hasenauer, a CORBA co-founder and board member with the International Mountain Bicycling Association.
"A shared-use system allows people to disperse in the best kind of way," said the Woodland Hills resident. "If people are acting responsibly, the nature of the (mountain biking) activity is that it's very much a low-impact sport."
Council members disagreed though and adopted a plan much more restrictive toward the sport than the recommended version. Dye, of the Palos Verdes Land Conservancy, said mountain bikers will be able to use only about a half-dozen trails.
But bicycle riders won't have to give up their trails immediately. The council failed to get around to adopting a comprehensive management plan that included directing staff to adopt code amendments restricting bicycle use.
