A little update from the public meeting with the City and Neighborhood groups about Quarry Park. The meeting consisted of both Neighborhood groups that surround the park and CORP members. The City presented their proposal for shared usage of dog walkers/hikers and mountain bikes. There will be a map of the proposed areas on the quarry park page on the Madison City parks web site shortly.
The short of the meeting was the dog walkers and hikers were not overly happy with the city's proposed area for their use, it seemed the majority would rather have shared trail usage with bikes. All that spoke had positive interactions with bikes at the park and no conflicts between groups (other than dogs not on a leash).
There will be a few meetings starting in early January with a group of neighbors and mountain bikers to discuss how we can all get along basically without having to resort to separate usage areas in the park (With the exception of a few jump areas in the park) and yet keep the city's legal teams satisfied. Another public meeting will happen late winter/early spring to share the details of the groups agreements and hopefully make it final if there are no major disagreements.
It was a positive meeting for the future. Some things will change to reduce potential conflict, IE crossings and making trails one direction but overall it would seem mountain bikes are there to stay and trails can grow.
Thanks to all who showed up for support.
