Trails closed to bicycles
Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District board members voted 7-0 last week to close trails to mountain bike riders at some district preserves, including Picchetti Ranch. About 150 open-space users packed the May 22 hearing. Now, the board must wait 30 days before taking final action on the mountain bike ban, which it is scheduled to revisit at its July 12 board meeting.
District Manager Craig Britton says the move will close access on 13 of 175 miles of bike trails on district land. The ban also applies to the district's Foothills, La Honda Creek, Los Trancos, Pulgas Ridge, Teague Hill, and Thornewood open space preserves, most of which are in San Mateo County.
"The idea was that, over time, the conflicts between trail users have increased, and usage has also increased," Britton said. "It's very minor, but a lot of bicyclists don't want to lose an inch of trail...and other people want a place where they can escape from mechanized society."
Of the 24 preserves in the district, the proposed changes apply to seven of those. The preserves subject to the bike ban were selected because they are not connected to other open space or park land and because they have shorter distances of trail.
Britton says that, if the change is approved in July, it won't be implemented until the end of the season this fall.
The district first received complaints about mountain bikers in the late 1980s, and originally considered closing some trails to bikes in the early 1990s.
Because the board's decision is part of a two-step process, anyone who wants to comment on the plan may do so at the July 12 meeting, or write a letter to the district. Letters may be sent to the MRSOD office, 330 Distel Circle, Los Altos, CA 94022, or emailed to mrosd@openspace.org.
Call the district at 650.691.1200 for more information.
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Sunnyvale, California Since 1994
