- What: Ball/Perkins Park master plan public input session (part of Green Grand Rapids)
- When: Saturday, January 24th, 2009 — 9am-12pm and 1pm-3pm
- Where: City High School, 1400 Fuller Ave. NE
I bought a mountain bike last spring. It was expensive enough that I feel really bad I didn’t ride it more. Why didn’t I ride it more? One of the main reasons is because I have a really hard time driving 10+ miles one way in a car, just to ride my bike.
To fix this problem, the Grand Rapids Parks and Rec Dept. and other local public agencies must be convinced that it is a good use of public lands to build “multi-use natural surface trails” (that’s fancy parks lingo for singletrack hiking/mtn biking/xc ski trails) where mountain biking is allowed. Nate Phelps and the WMMBA (Western chapter of the Michigan Mountain Biking Assoc.) have been working diligently to do this. BUT, THEY NEED HELP!
One of the best opportunities for a new mountain bike trail is in the 82-acre undeveloped Ball/Perkins park. This park in northeast GR is located north of Leonard St between Ball and Perkins Avenues. This Saturday, the city is holding a charrette as part of the Green Grand Rapids master planning process to determine the best way for this park to be developed. It is important that the mountain bicyclists in Grand Rapids make it known that mountain bicycling should be incorporated into plans for the park.
Come out and spend 10 minutes to express your support for mountain biking trails in our parks. BE SURE that when you vote, you place your support under “multi-use natural surface trails” and not just “hiking” or “trails”. Additionally, use the link at the bottom of this post to share this post on your facebook. Send it to friends. The date is coming up soon! Sorry for the short notice. The more turnout we can get, the more likely we are to get recognized and get consideration for our trail uses in the park master plan.
What Can We Do On 82 acres?
A helluva lot!
What’s the best way to build a great urban mountain biking park in Grand Rapids? Look at what other cities have done well, copy it, and make it better! Over the last 5-10 years, mountain bikers who live in urban areas have worked hard to convince their cities to build, or allow them to build, mountain bike trails in their parks. Where are these parks? They are in cities of many sizes in all parts of the country, from Philadelphia, Seattle, and Manhattan (yes, Manhattan) to Minneapolis, Richmond, and Cleveland. Here is a summary of five of the better ones: The best urban mountain bike trail systems in the US.
What can we do for Ball/Perkins? For that, I have looked to Minneapolis. In 2005, the Minneapolis Off-Road Cycling Advocates and the Minnesota Off-Road Cyclists were allowed by the Minneapolis Parks Department to install the Theodore Wirth Off-Road Cycling Demonstration Project.
What I really like about the trails that were created in Theodore Wirth Park is that there are separate mountain biking and hiking trails to satisfy both sets of users and eliminate some of the conflicts that can occur on narrow singletrack trail. It also creates twice as much trail for XC ski trail users to explore during the winter. Below I’ve created a map comparing the area of Theodore Wirth Park with the available area in Ball/Perkins park.
Microsoft Virtual Earth calculated that the area used for the 4-5 miles of mountain biking trails (in addition to a large amount of hiking trail) at Theodore Wirth is about 50 acres, meaning that the 82 acres of Ball/Perkins is plenty of area to meet the needs of all trail users.
Don’t forget to spread the word and get yourself to this meeting. It will only take 10 minutes! With persistence and by showing up, we can increase the recreational opportunities in Grand Rapids, increase our bicycle friendliness, and create something great in our own backyard!
