HomeMy WebLinkAbout10/6/2021 Item 4b, Brooks
To: Parks and Recreation Commissioners Vice Chair Kari Howell, Commissioners Kari
Applegate, Rick Blair, Kris Roudebush, Adam Stowe and Andrew Webber
From Lea Brooks, Friends of the Bob Jones Trail
Oct. 5, 2021
Re: Commission Oct. 6 Agenda, Item 4
Thank you for the opportunity to comment on Item 4: Blueprint for the Future Priorities
Update, specifically the consideration of a bike pump track on the Bob Jones Trail
between South Higuera/Prado and Los Osos Valley Road.
The nonprofit Friends of the Bob Jones Trail formed in 2013 to encourage a more timely
completion of the City-to-Sea Trail. We initially focused on helping SLO County submit a
successful grant to extend the trail from its Ontario Road staging area to the Octagon
Barn. We are delighted that the county has been awarded an $18.25 million state Active
Transportation Program grant to complete the design and construct the extension.
We are now focusing on increasing use of the City’s South Higuera/Prado-LOVR
segment of the trail by scheduling informal monthly trash pickups to help make the trail
more inviting. Since January, we have volunteered nearly 80 hours picking up trash. We
did not pick up trash in September because of a significant increase in camping on the
trail, but hope to start up again this month.
We recognize the need for and support additional recreational activities on the trail in
addition its role as a bicycle transportation route. We think a disc golf course may be a
better fit and request that the commission include this option in the discussion
Wednesday. I raised the idea of a disc golf course to staff and during at least one of the
public workshops on the plan update. The disc golf course adjacent to the Railroad
Safety Trail in the Sinsheimer Park/School vicinity seems compatible to activities on the
trail.
Please consider these questions during your discussion on a possible pump track:
-During the extensive public comment period on the new Parks and Recreation Plan,
the favored locations for pump tracks seemed to be Laguna Lake and Sinsheimer Park.
Is the Bob Jones Trail in addition to or instead of these sites?
-Our observation is that pump tracks are primarily popular with kids. Pump tracks should
be easily accessible to kids via bicycling or walking. South Higuera Street and Los Osos
Valley Road aren’t comfortable for most people bicycling or on foot due to the high
number of intersections, driveways, traffic signals and fast, aggressive drivers. Are there
data on the number of kids in the vicinity who would bicycle or walk to a pump track?
Are children who are expected to live at San Luis and Avila ranches good candidates for
bicycling and walking to the Bob Jones Trail and pump track? Are there enough children
living in the mobile home parks and other nearby neighborhoods, including Margarita,
near the Bob Jones Trail to support a pump track?