Our role in planning for Open Space & Mountain Park lands just west of town...

1. Learning the interests of those who live near Open Space
2. Bringing those interets to the planning process
3. Searching for mutually beneficial solutions



Friday, April 30, 2010

Notes from the Neighborhood Listening Session April 7th

The second neighborhood Listening Session was held at the Chautauqua Community House on April 7th. 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 3rd & 4th 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.