EBRPD held their first public meeting focused on the Wildcat Flow Trail Project on April 25th. About 260 people attended with the vast majority being mountain bike riders and a large number of those being either middle or high school mtb program students or adults associated with those programs. This is they type of public participation we need when it comes to the public process and interacting with elected officials. THANK YOU! Special thanks to the students that participated and those that made public comment. Participating in this public process and learning about it at a young age will serve you well as you become the advocacy leaders of the future.
The meeting was also attended by Directors Echols of Ward 1 and Coffey of Ward 7. Elizabeth Echols Ward 1 includes Wildcat and Tilden parks. The meeting ran almost twice as long as planned as staff accommodated the large volume of participants with public comment.
The meeting was noticed along broad communication channels and to a variety of groups including hikers, equestrians, and conservation groups yet there was limited participation by those individuals. Norman LaForce, chair of the Sierra Club East Bay Lands committee, opposed the project on the basis of land use planning and environmental considerations even through the project is at the very early stages and just beginning to work through those evaluations. LaForce and Jim Hansen of CA Native Plant Society have also submitted objections on behalf of the Sierra Club to the EBRPD Board which can be found here and recently published an Op Ed in the East Bay Times which can be found here. As usual they jump to NO before staff have completed work and paint mountain biking in hyperbolic non-factual labels such as calling the flow trail a “downhill speed track” when in fact mountain bikes can attain much higher speeds on the existing fire roads if that was the experience we were after. A counterpoint Op Ed from the Wildcat Leadership team, which BTCEB participates on, is forthcoming. The Sierra Club East Bay Public Lands Committee meets second Wednesday of each month at 7:30 PM online. Contact them at ebpl@sfbaysc.org
Also in attendance and opposing the project was Amelia Marshall, CA Horseman’s Association Advocate doing them proud. Give Amelia a warm ‘howdy’ next time you see her on a meeting or in person. It looks like she could use a little love.
If you weren’t able to attend please take some time to become more familiar with the project by watching or listening to the meeting video or reviewing the meeting notes. If you did attend the meeting you can find results from various poll questions that they didn’t have time to share during the meeting. Staff did a good job at making the meeting more interactive input experience through polling questions to allow for engagement for all even if you weren’t making a public comment.
Go to the EBRPD meeting notes to see more poll results from the meeting
Staff are seeking further input and have set up a Feedback link on the Wildcat Project website. Please share particular thoughts you have with staff via this link.
Staff will take input from the meeting as they continue through the planning process. Conceptual designs for the trail will begin so if you have input on features or character you would like to see use the Feedback link . Staff will also continue the next phase of environmental evaluation and determine level of activity needed with respect to CEQA compliance. The next meeting is expected in late summer or early fall.
Thanks again to everyone who participated in the meeting. This is the first step in the planning process and a several year project. Stay tuned and continue to participate.
