Lime Ridge should not be a Mountain Biking Destination for thrill seekers.
The City of Walnut Creek is putting Mountain Bikers’ interests ahead of hikers, neighbors, wildlife and natural habitats.
The Walnut Creek Trails Committee was formed in 2019.
In 2019, the Trails Committee was formed to document the current state of the Walnut Creek Open Space trail system, and to deliberate over the vision for its future. The Committee included members from the PROS Commission, the Open Space Foundation, representative from local mountain biking and equestrian user groups, and Open Space staff. Over the course of monthly meetings in 2019 and into 2020, topics of discussion included safety of trail users, protection of natural resources, habitat restoration, education and outreach, Open Space policies and ways to accommodate different types of user groups.
The Trails Committee failed to include hikers or neighborhood representatives.
The Trails committee had no representation from hikers, dog walkers, or neighbors that abut the open space. Hikers and walkers make up over 70% of the users of Lime Ridge yet they were not fairly represented on this committee. The inherent mountain biking bias of the committee clearly drove the outcomes. The Bicycle Trails Council of the East Bay (BTCEB) had two members on the committee. The BTCEB has been actively lobbying the city of Walnut Creek to gain single-track trails in the Open Space.
Mountain Bikers are driving the decisions of the Trails Committee.
The Bicycle Trails Council of the East Bay (BTCEB) has promoted the Flow trail throughout their organization. They have offered to fundraise to pay for the trail and its maintenance. They were even involved in where signage was posted notifying people of the proposed flow trails, locations were specific to mountain bikers and deliberately avoided hiking trails. They have mobilized bikers from all over the bay area to write in to support the Flow trail. This entire process was biased and exclusionary from the beginning, therefore the draft Trail committee report is heavily biased in favor of bikers.
Walnut Creek Parks, Recreation and Open Space Commission needs to stop and reevaluate the Flow Trails.
The Walnut Creek PROS commission was poised to approve the Trail Committee recommendations in February of 2021 and it was only tabled due to local residents from attending the meeting to raise concerns. This plan had not been publicized, nor were there any public notices to the adjacent Rancho Paraiso community, a group that would be directly impacted by this proposal. There have not been any environmental studies done. There were no surveys of user groups. There was no documentation to support the idea of a flow trail in Southern Lime Ridge. The committee was never tasked with creating a flow trail, yet that was the outcome.
The Lime Ridge Master Plan does NOT allow for Flow Trails!
The Master Plan for Lime Ridge precludes this type of trail in the proposed locations. The Public Works department had planned to build the Flow trail this Spring in phase 1 and was planning a second flow trail in phase 2 in Concord, in the area abutting Montecito and Crystyl Ranch. Neither of these communities were notified of these proposals. As with Rancho Paraiso there would be trail access points within these residential communities. This is a serious concern as these Flow trails would bring an influx of mountain bikers from all over Northern California to our hills to enjoy these "thrill rides". These trails would become a destination. Bikers will post videos and share their ride times on social apps, attracting more bikers to the hills.
Mountain Bikers have already caused immense damage to our Open Space with illegal trails.
Turning Lime Ridge into a mountain biking destination would only bring more people to our hills. The Trails committee did a good job capturing the current damage in Lime Ridge that has been caused by mountain bikers illegally carving up the hillsides for thrill rides. Why would we want to give more access in Lime Ridge to mountain bikers? Why would we want to open up more areas to damage? Why would we create more bike trails which will push other users out of the area? The City naively thinks that building Flow Trails will keep Bikers on those trails, and they won’t go off trail and cause more damage. Does anyone really believe that to be true?
Example of an illegal MTB trail in Lime Ridge, one of dozens.
Walnut Creek lacks the resources to enforce the rules!
“Bicycles are permitted only on paved and unpaved roads over eight feet in width unless otherwise posted. Bicycles shall be operated in a safe manner with speed not in excess of 15 mph.”
