We’re working on designs of our first Bike Park! The park will welcome all ages and levels of bike riders.

This is a continuing public conversation building from the previous public meetings about Leddy Park.

Thanks to everyone that participated in the public meetings and online survey. We’ll post the analysis here soon.

Background:

The Burlington Bike Park Coalition approached BPRW with an idea for establishing a bike park in Burlington. BPRW continues exploring the feasibility and impact of a bike park at Leddy because:

• it aligns with the 2015 BPRW Master Plan to increase trail management and access, improve trail systems to include mountain bike uses, and to formalize the Leddy Park trail system.
• there are no formalized mountain bike trails in the City, this project is attractive because it would create a space for residents of all biking ability levels and backgrounds to ride mountain bikes without requiring access to a car to drive to a trail system outside of town.
• this project is a good fit for this regional park with connection to the bike path and offers suitable space.

Envisioning Session – participant feedback:

The 80-100 attendees at our April 2019 workshop supported adding the bike park at Leddy. The 25 online survey responses were essentially neutral towards adding the bike park. Participants shared concerns about conflicts with use of existing trails, ecology, and pedestrians. There were additional concerns related to noise, congestion, erosion as well as the need for proper construction.

How we plan to move ahead:

Ecology, safety and scale are top considerations for a bike park at this location. Proper siting and sustainable trail design will result in a successful bike park that both meets the needs of the community who want to enjoy this recreational amenity, and address concerns regarding conflicts with the current uses and ecology of the park.

The location selected for the small and contained family-friendly bike park is a 2.43 acre island that avoids sensitive ecological areas, limits the footprint and sets a clear boundary for the bike park.

The assessment by the City Arborist found that trees in the proposed site consist of a mix of primarily white pine, red oak, and red maple. There is minimal herbaceous and woody understory vegetation, which is located towards the outer edges of this wooded area. Any paths through this area could be laid out to follow considerable space between existing large trees thus eliminating the need for any removals of large trees and minimizing the impact to their root zones. It is imperative that no significant grade changes or excavation be completed throughout the area. If the project advances, the City Arborist will work closely with this group on the routing of paths through this area to ensure that impacts will be minimal to the existing trees. Minor cutting and clearing of fallen debris or potentially hazardous dead wood in existing trees will be completed and all debris will be left on site out of the way of the proposed paths to decay as it would naturally.