Notes from the Neighborhood Listening Session April 7th

The second neighborhood Listening Session was held at the Chautauqua Community House on April 7^th. Around 90 “neighbors’ of the West TSA showed up to participate. Neighbors were asked to frame their input as suggestions of “what they would like to see” as a future condition in the West TSA. The following is a compilation of the input we received that evening.

Parking

• Better education & enforcement of designated parking areas in Chautauqua.
• Add more parking on the north end of the Chautauqua meadow.
• Address the parking situation on Eldorado Springs Rd at Dowdy Draw.
• Address parking (dangerous) and social trails along Baseline; find a way to direct users to designated trails so that there is less use of social trails.

Trail maintenance/trail closures

• Temporary (seasonal) closures for trail conditions that warrant it – in particular, very muddy trails.
• Closure of the 3^rd & 4^th St trail when muddy
• Add gravel to trails that are prone to muddiness.
• Harden the trail surfaces against mud where possible.
• Increased, aggressive, proactive trail maintenance.
• Have OSMP coordinate with the various users groups to get their participation in maintaining trails and in helping with the upkeep of the trailheads and trails that they use.
• All trail closures justified and monitored for “need” on a regular basis.

Trail access & trails (general)

• Maintain the status quo in the West TSA
• Bike parking (bike racks) at all/most trailheads.
• Encourage people to ride bikes or to walk to trailheads rather than drive.
• Maintain access to the West TSA.
• Designate a trail between the Enchanted Mesa and the McClintock trails – tentatively named the “Enchanted Vista” trail.
• Allow neighborhood volunteers to post relevant and timely information on the trailhead “reg” boards.
• Increase ADA trail access.
• Education of users about their noise impact on neighbors - especially at trailheads.
• Create an “alternating use schedule’ in the style of Jefferson County’s “Centennial Cone Park “ – essentially a calendar of use for hikers and bikers.
• Designate the Goat Trail.
• Maintain trail access for NOAA/NIST/NCAR employees.
• More access points
• Create more trails to achieve less crowding/congestion
• Fewer signs
• Fewer internal fences

Trails - trail design and trail designations

• Establish which social trails should stay and which should go; the ones that are to be kept need to be sustainably designed and maintained.
• Be mindful that the common denominator of trail use in the West TSA is “walking”.
• OSMP should use up-to-date, sustainable trail building practices.
• Designate small, meandering social trails – use the social use as an indicator of desirable user experiences.
• Designate trails by user type to avoid user conflicts.
• Design trails to reduce user conflicts.
• Better quality of single track trails – both hiking and biking trails
• Build trails that do not encourage users to trespass on neighbor’s property.

Preservation & Conservation

• Better seasonal signage
• Reduce invasive weed species. Preserve wildlife corridors in the area of Shanahan Ridge 4 and others.
• Maintain existing Voice & Sight and explore options for more V & S trails.
• Dusk-to-dawn closures of HCAs and Natural Areas.
• Conserve and preserve the area between Walker Ranch and Eldorado.

Mountain Bikes

• Designate a north/south mountain bike trail (trail from Chautauqua to Eldorado) that would be a “single use” trail.
• Reaffirm the prohibition of mountain bikes west of 93 & Broadway.
• A possible mountain bike trail from Green Briar to South Boulder Creek Trail.
• Access to mountain biking trails that can be accessed from home without having to drive to the trailhead.
• Manage bike access specifically for neighbors, not as a destination for users who are not neighbors.
• Loop trail for mountain bikes in the southern part of the West TSA.
• Mountain bike trail between Boulder and Walker Ranch
• Communication with Shanahan 6 neighbors and priority to be given to those neighbors living near proposed mountain bike trails.
• Sustainably built north/south single track mountain bike trail to be built.
• Make use of existing fire roads to accommodate mountain bike users.
• Development of a “bike etiquette” program to educate bike users with the objective of decreasing user conflicts.
• Implement a speed limit on all bike trails of 20 mph max with a 5 mph “passing” speed limit.

Dog Walkers

• More Voice & Sight trails
• Maintain existing Voice & Sight trails.
• More enforcement of the Voice & Sight regulations.
• Need more education about not leaving poo bags behind, more community “poo clean up” days, more trash bins and poo bag dispensers at trailheads.
• Expansion of the trailhead leash program (leashed for first 100 yards of the trail) to all trailheads.
• Education about “packing out” dog waste.
• Dog leash regulations to extend to Thomas Lane (West part of South Boulder Creek Trail / Big Bluestem area).
• During ground nesting bird season have seasonal leash regulations.

Miscellaneous

• Reintroduction of extirpated species such as antelope (“extirpated species” are those that are no longer existing in a specific location such as the West TSA, but are not extinct as a species.)
• Affirmation of the Open Space charter.
• Better enforcement in Eldorado Springs and a budget for emergency response needs to be adequate to the use and more aggressive fire and pine beetle mitigation plan.
• Explore a fee system for non-Boulder county users.
• Direct communication with neighbors who have given their emails to OSMP for the West TSA (West TSA list-serve).
• Discourage use of headphones on trails.