in Trailbuilding and Advocacy

Thanks for your hard work! The proposal is fantastic. I have sent an email in support although I live in Madison and will do my best to be at the meeting and volunteer trail days when the time comes.

Hey everyone,

Just a reminder that there is a Cross Plains parks and rec committee meeting on Monday at 6:00pm.  They have us on the agenda and will be discussing the results of the mixed-use mountain biking trail questionnaire that was published in last month’s newsletter.  Below is a link to the agenda.  Please send Mike Axon (maxon@cross-plains.wi.us) an email and let him know that you are in support of the proposed mixed use trails if you haven’t done so yet.  We spoke with him last week and he said that he had received 8 responses so far.  Lets try to get this number up if we can!  Of the 8 responses, there was one response in opposition.  We want to make sure that the “yeas” outweigh the “nays”!

This meeting will be a good one to have some representation from CORP at.  From what we’ve heard there are no planned actions to the village board, but there should be some town residents at the meeting asking questions or potentially providing opposition.  The committee may recommend to postpone a final action until the after the Ice Age Trail presents a preliminary plan for the Glacial Valley Conservancy in the fall.  Some items that would be good to press at the meeting include the following:

•   Show support for the mixed-use mountain biking/hiking trails and answer any residents questions or concerns.
•   Request that the Parks and Rec committee set a hard date for the Ice Age Trail Alliance to submit a preliminary plan for Glacial Valley Conservancy.  This will prevent a proposed action from pushing out any further and hopefully give us a go ahead by late fall.
•   Request a partial approval of our proposal in the Cedar Hill/Cedar Glen conservancies so that we can officially establish this trail system and begin fund raising.   

Agenda:
http://www.cross-plains.wi.us/index.asp?SEC=28E667D2-4B68-4C03-8FA9-A3B9BB5585C8&DE=8F201FF9-5C0F-4309-9F51-09B54D8FADBB&Type=B_BASIC

Get some riding in!
Mike

If this project gets any kind of approval please let me know. I am a Professional Land Surveyor and our company will be willing to help with the marking of the park boundaries at no cost. Whomever is spearheading this please PM me and we can exchange contact info.

Thanks,
Brett

Hello again,

As an update, mountain biking will not be on the Cross Plains Parks and Rec Committee agenda this month, but there will be a full discussion at the Monday, October 17th, meeting.  Put this date on your calendars and lets plan on having a good turnout.

I spoke with the Parks and Rec manager, Mike Axon, last week and he said that there is still some opposition from the residents in the area of the proposed trails.  This opposition is scattered so it’s important to keep telling your neighbors to support our cause and don’t sign any petition.

Our hope is to squash unsupported opinions by providing supported facts. We've already provide the Village with a number of reference studies, but a couple opposition topics that were voiced at last month’s meeting include:

•   Mixed-use hiking and biking won’t work. - This is where it would be good to get input from everyone in CORP.  I’ve been sending Mike Axon (maxon@cross-plains.wi.us) examples of mixed use trails and trailhead maps from other trails that I’ve been riding.  I would encourage you to do the same.  He also would like to hear any good examples of hiking/biking interaction that you may have.   
•   Why is the Village paying for mountain biking studies and new trails? - Everything that’s been presented to date and any future work is proposed as no cost to the Village.
•   Mountain bike trails will decrease the value of my property. - Every study that we’ve dug up says that property values will go up or stay steady.
•   Mountain biking will bring unwanted traffic to our neighborhood. - There are already established mountain bikers in Cross Plains that would utilize the trails and any additional traffic is good for the community if we channel it through Main Street.  Also, mountain bikers are generally very respectful and are proven trail stewards.
•   We don’t want people looking into our backyard. - The proposed trail routes are very generic at this point and owner privacy can potentially be incorporated into the routes where possible.  We can also route trails around sensitive areas as necessary.  Trails are proposed to be installed high on the hill where there will be minimal visibility to the homes below.  Routing will be similar, but separate from the existing hiking trails in these conservancies.  It’s also important to point out that the use of these conservancies is for all Village residents and they shouldn’t be limited to the residents that border the conservancies.   
•   You can’t build bike trails on such steep side slopes without engineering. - IMBA publishes very specific trail building guidelines which we plan to follow.  We also plan to utilize a professional trail builder (Chad) for initial layout, professional surveyor (Brett) for property layout, and a civil engineer (myself) as required.   

Thanks for tuning in.  We’ll talk to everyone soon.  Mike

Does it help to have CORP members such as myself who are not residents of the specific area (I'm form Middleton)?  I don't mind coming if it helps to have another responsible mountain biking body in the room.  i have no specific skills with regards to the concerns stated except that of being respective of the trail, nearby ladowners, and trails varied types of users (hikers coexisting with mnt bikers).  If its helpful for those such as myself to come, where and when is it specifically on Oct 17th?

Opposition to the proposed Cross Plains Singletrack is growing among citizens living on adjoining streets. The Village plans to notify all residents, but it would be well for CORP to be proactive in going door-to-door to meet with the residents. As former owner of Uphill Grind Bicycle and Coffee in Cross Plains, I see this as a good thing, and my former partner, Michael Osborne, would feel the same if he still lived here. There is a lot of misunderstanding and fear among residents, mostly based on lack of knowledge. You can easily allay people's fears by explaining it to the residents. If you don't they may come in droves to the Parks and Recreation meeting and shoot down the project.

Hi all,

As a reminder there is a Cross Plains parks and rec meeting next Monday 10/17 at 6pm.  This will be an important one for everyone to attend because there will be discussion to adopt an ordinance regarding acceptable/non-acceptable bicycle usage in the Village owned conservancies.  Residents are strongly encouraged to attend and other other area riders are definitely invited to attend.  We will obviously be in favor of bicycle usage in the Glacial Valley, Cedar Hill, and Cedar Glen conservancies.  A general ordinance approval will be step 1 of the planning process (and a verify important step).  Step 2 will then hopefully be an approval of our trail proposal or a modified proposal.

Mike Axon has noted that he’s been receiving a lot of good emails from residents in the area of the proposed trails, but has also received a few opposition emails.  It will be good to come prepared to discuss the opposition talking points noted in the previous email.  Thanks to everyone who’s forwarded me literature answering some of these questions.  This literature should hopefully be included in the agenda packet.  "Happykarter" - Thanks for the suggestion on going door to door and reaching out to local residents.  We may be late on making this happen before Monday's meeting, but we should look into this as an option if there is a determined opposition.

Lastly, Mike Axon has asked if anyone has sample ordinances from other communities allowing bicycles in their parks or open spaces.  He would like to propose language at the upcoming meeting.  Please forward these to me or directly to Mike if you can help.

I’ll forward the actual agenda when it’s posted but the location and time are noted below…… Continue to tell your neighbors and friends about our plans and let Mike Axon (maxon@cross-plains.wi.us) know that you are in favor of mixed-use single track trails.   

6:00pm @
Rosemary Garfoot Public Library
2107 Julius Street
Cross Plains, WI 53528

Enjoy the fall riding!  Talk soon.
Mike
(IM me if you would like to be added to our email list)

I sent an email to Mike. Glad to get any information if it will help.

Thanks to everyone who attended last month’s parks and rec meeting.  There was some good discussion about mountain biking in the village conservancies and a lot of good comments from our team.  For the handful of people who showed up in opposition to mountain biking, it also felt like we had a lot of positive comments as well.

Mountain biking will not be on the Parks and Rec committee agenda this month, but they will be discussing the proposed Ice Age trail alignment through the Glacial Valley conservancy.  I won’t be able to make the meeting, but it may be nice to have some people sit in on the discussion.  I’m curious if the same people who are in opposition to the mountain biking trails in their backyard will be in opposition to an interstate hiking trail in their backyard.  A lot of the same arguments that were used against mountain bike trails at last month’s meeting will also apply to the new Ice Age Trail:
•   Don’t want people in my backyard
•   Don’t want out of town people using village parks
•   Impact to wildlife
•   Potential for erosion
•   Trails will damage the existing habitat

I’m personally in favor of the Ice Age Trail, but I don’t think it should displace other user groups.  Also, an approval may help our argument for expanded trails in the conservancies.

Feel free to join the discussion on Monday and let us know how it goes!   

PLEASE ATTEND!!!

Hi All - We have a critical meeting on Monday 2/20/17 that requires mountain biker support!  If you are a Cross Plains or Middleton resident, please make every effort to make this meeting!  Others are always welcome……. And be sure to let your neighbors and friends know that they should attend as well! 

Our trail proposal will be the first item on the agenda and will likely be the only topic discussed at the meeting.  Attached are the revised trail plan supplement and memo that will be presented.  There will likely be opposition to the proposal which is why it is important to have supporters at the meeting and be prepared to show your support.  I’ve been told that the committee will likely make a recommendation to approve or the deny the trail system following this meeting.

Location and timing:
Monday 2/20/17
6:00pm @
Rosemary Garfoot Public Library
2107 Julius Street
Cross Plains, WI 53528

I hope to see everyone at the meeting! 

See attached proposal memo.

See the attached trail proposal.

The meeting is tonight at 6pm.  Come and show support for the potential trail in Cross Plains!

How did the meeting go?

APPROVED!!!

Thanks to everyone who’s helped with the Cross Plains trail proposal.  Your persistence has paid off!  The Village Board went against the parks and rec committee recommendations and approved the Cedar Hill/Cedar Glen trail proposal (See attached).

Now the hard work begins (or maybe the easy work as compared to a year’s worth of politics).  We still have a good amount of planning that needs to take place before we can start construction, but it’s good to know that we have a path forward.  Mike Axon will be looking to develop a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with CORP and will incorporate the requirements specified as part of the approval  (no events, parking, proper construction, safety).  We will also need to start the fundraising process so start chatting up the project with your friends and community members.  The current plan is to route donations through CORP as a separate designated project.  More to come on this.

We’ll keep everyone posted!

Thanks,
Mike