The Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District Board of Directors will meet 7:30 pm this coming Wednesday, November 30, at the Los Altos Youth Center, 1 N. San Antonio Road in Los Altos. This special meeting will consider the fate of four trails: Black Mountain in Rancho San Antonio, Ridge in Skyline, Zinfandel in Pichetti Ranch, and Soda Gulch in Purisima Creek.
They were discussed at a Land Use and Management Committee meeting in early November. The General Manager’s recommendations are to make permanent what had been interim use designations for the first three: hiking and equestrian for Black Mountain and hiking only for the next two. The details on Zinfandel indicate his recommendation differs from that of the committee, but doesn’t say what the committee recommended. For the Soda Gulch, he recommends keeping the interim hiking only status while the trail is evaluated for equestrian use.
The comments indicate the input received at the November meeting from 13 warm bodies and 20 written communications was about half and half for and against allowing bikes, but bikes got nothing, not even one day a week, as some had requested. Check (http://www.openspace.org ) for all the details.
Once again, MROSD is not willing to listen to the bike community, despite being the largest users’ group, IMHO. Please take some time and come to this meeting, or send your comments via email or regular mail.
District Address:
330 Distel Circle
Los Altos, CA 94022-1404
650-691-1200
email: info at http://www.openspace.org
What really surprised me at the first meeting was the categorical rejection of allowing bikes on any of these trails, whereas they are considering allowing horses on Soda Gulch. Allowing horses may mean reinforcing bridges, cutting down branches and possibly whole trees to provide the necessary 10 – 12 feet of clearance above the trail.
Josh
