The community-led Cheasty Trails and Bike Park concept has been six years in making. With a series of walking and mountain biking trails in the greenbelt, project boosters hope to create much-needed access to outdoor recreation in a steep greenbelt slope between Beacon Hill and Rainier Valley.
Volunteers for the effort have spent years working on environmental restoration projects in the greenbelt, but the full vision has been sidetracked by a lengthy legal process. The Seattle Hearing Examiner directed Seattle Parks to do more environmental study back in 2015, and that effort has led to some changes to the plan and a more robust environmental analysis. Parks has released a new “Determination of Non-Significance” (PDF) for the project based on this work, and project supporters are urging folks to send supportive comments (see below).
The plan now avoids the steepest sections and wetland areas as much as possible. Here are the updated (and somewhat difficult to read) plans:
You can check out the extensive study documents on the project webpage.
More details from the Friends of Cheasty Greenspace Mt. View:
Seattle Parks has given the go-ahead to the Cheasty Trails and Bike Park project! But it’s not a done deal.
NOW it’s YOUR turn to help. Please submit comments of support for Cheasty trails in the next 10 days. The public comments period runs through October 29, 2018.
Send all comments to Senior Planner David Graves. He’s in charge of the project:
Email: [email protected]
Call to leave him a message: 206-684-7048Thank you!
With your support we hope to build trails in the spring.
Comments
3 responses to “After much study and some changes, Cheasty Trails and Bike Park gets environmental thumbs up”
This is a really great project for people and forests in South Seattle. The decision is appealable by folks who don’t think it’s so great. Witness Ballard’s missing link. Community support matters. Please consider sending supportive comments, focused on environmental impacts, to David Greaves. Here’s what I sent:
I am writing to offer positive comment on the DNS decision. This trail project will offer many positive environmental benefits to Seattle and the region, including:
– Urban forest restoration and ongoing stewardship accompanying soft trail building, with benefits to plants and wildlife.
– Recreation, especially for children and youth.
– Air quality, due to the reduction in need for driving to such recreational opportunities, and due to forest restoration.
Looking forward to implementation of the project.
I will provide a comment in support as well. Something along these lines: if we want kids to have things to do outdoors – healthy, fun, safe – we need to provide places. Otherwise kids either won’t go outdoors or they will end up hanging around. Other examples are skate parks, sports facilities (indoor and out), organized youth activities. To keep Seattle diverse, we need to provide for families with kids, not just 20 somethings and retired folk. Cheasty is one important step in that direction.
I know the opposition argues against this on environmental grounds, but the environment–as well as social issues–is precisely why Seattle needs a bike park like Cheasty.
Environmentally there is a real lack of (single track/mountain) bike trails in the immediate Seattle vicinity that do not require one to drive somewhere. Driving somewhere to bike sort of defeats the purpose of biking on a fundamental level: that of not further contributing to global warming. It also further adds to the amount of traffic in our area. So to have a bike park that one can bike to (or access via public transportation) would be a real bonus for Seattle.
I also fully advocate for the Cheasty Bike Park given its location in the South End and its ability to serve a youthful population, allowing a healthy and creative outlet for kids that may not have many other outlets. With Bike Works and the The Bikery (where I volunteer) close by, it is very easy for under-served kids to acquire a bike. I think of a Cheasty Bike Park much like all of Seattle’s very successful skate parks, a great place for kids to channel their energies in a constructive manner.
For when the Cheasty Bike Park gets made I think a stewardship program should be part of the plan, where the rules of engagement are clearly stated so that the park does not get trashed. A self sustaining stewardship plan should definitely be part of the park plan.
Anyhow, I (and many others I know) are really looking forward to the Cheasty Bike Park. Please let me know if there is anything I can do to get it opened as soon as possible.
Stefan
Beacon Hill resident