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HomeMy WebLinkAboutUser Groups Wrap Up final, 10-09 Gallatin County Parks and Trails Committee User Groups Roundtable: October 6, 2009 ______________________________________________________ ORGANIZATIONS, GOALS, AND LOCATIONS OF USE Due to the variety of interests represented at the User Groups Roundtable, a slightly modified format was used to accommodate the range in concerns and solutions. The attendees began by introducing themselves, explaining their goals, and the location of their use within the county. The groups in attendance reported the following information (in alphabetical order by organization name): Organization Goals/Purpose Location of Use BAHA Soccer Creating a master plan for Gallatin County, City of the Fairgrounds that Bozeman includes soccer fields. Backcountry Horsemen Maintain trails, increase Areas throughout the trail etiquette awareness, county and the state. practice Leave No Trace ethics, and work with the Forest Service to preserve access to backcountry areas. Bozeman Area Bicycle Advise the City of Bozeman Cycling on trails and on Advisory Board (BABAB) on bike and transportation roads within the City of needs Bozeman and the surrounding area. Bozeman Girls Fast Pitch Providing youth with Bozeman Softball options to participate in sports Bozeman Rugby/Football Getting field access for Mainly MSU at this point Club players and finding an alternative to the MSU campus. Bridger Ski Foundation Nordic Skiing access and City of Bozeman, Gallatin grooming County, and Public lands Citizens for Balanced Use Accessing public lands for Gallatin County, public motorized recreation. lands Fairgrounds Board Agricultural, animal and Gallatin County community venue for events and uses. 1 Gallatin County Parks and Trails Committee User Groups Roundtable: October 6, 2009 ______________________________________________________ Organization Goals/Purpose Location of Use Gallatin County Park Addressing park concerns Gallatin County Commission throughout the county. Gallatin County Planning Connecting the various Gallatin County Board established trails in the county in a logical way to provide better access to recreation. Gallatin Equestrian Educate and unite people Gallatin County, City of Partnership (GallEP) around equestrian issues. Bozeman Create multiuse trails, and work towards creating an equestrian park for competitions. Gallatin Ice Foundation Hockey and figure skating Fairgrounds access to ice Gallatin Saddle and Harness Using horses in a safe and County roads and public Club sharing manner. Working lands. Areas that are flat or to establish safer side trails with rolling hills and with to ride along roads where water. necessary. Creating trail access to shopping areas. Accommodating horse- drawn equine users. Gallatin Valley Bicycle Club Using and improving trail Both in urban/suburban access for cyclists. areas and on public lands. Gallatin Valley Lacrosse Getting access to fields Gallatin County in general Gallatin Valley Land Trust Creating non-motorized City of Bozeman, Gallatin (GVLT) trails for residents in the County City of Bozeman and Gallatin County Gallatin Valley Snowmobile Snowmobile access Gallatin County and Public association Lands Girls Fast Pitch Softball Getting access to fields Three Forks designed for Girls Fast Pitch 2 Gallatin County Parks and Trails Committee User Groups Roundtable: October 6, 2009 ______________________________________________________ Organization Goals/Purpose Location of Use Hockey Access to ice Fairgrounds Montana Mountain Bike Addressing political Anywhere mountain bikes Alliance complications regarding can go or ought to go. access to trails. Montana Senior Olympics Seinor hockey in March and Bohart, Fairgrounds, and Nordic Skiing in the winter other events around the state. Recreation and Parks Advise City of Bozeman on City of Bozeman Advisory Board (RPAB) recreation and trail needs. Would like to improve communication between the City of Bozeman and Gallatin County. Rugby Club Finding more flat green MSU grass to play on. Soccer Club Spring and Fall leagues of MSU, City of Bozeman more than 1000 kids. parks Working to find more places to play. Youth Hockey Access to ice Fairgrounds CURRENT STATUS: WHAT IS WORKING The attendees saw the county’s efforts to engage in more public outreach to inform their planning process for the creation of a parks and trails plan as something that is working. They also mentioned the county had many valuable recreational assets waiting to be taken advantage of with the large amount of Forest Service access to area mountains and streams, as well as many existing county parks and trails. What is lacking is investment and organization. Another success mentioned was the Regional Park whose trails and Dinosaur Playground see a great deal of activity. The plans for an amphitheater in the park were also seen as promising. In addition to parkland development, the Leverich Canyon Trail has been a huge success in regards to citizen- initiated and maintained trail construction through cooperation between the Forest Service and the Montana Mountain Biking Association. 4-H programming at the Fairgrounds was mentioned as a success, and a huge “thumbs up” was offered to the 3 Gallatin County Parks and Trails Committee User Groups Roundtable: October 6, 2009 ______________________________________________________ Gallatin Valley Land Trust (GVLT) for their work to establish trails such as Drinking Horse Mountain in the county. Finally, fostering cooperation among user groups and other public land management agencies was considered valuable. The group recommended pursuing the idea to canvass/inventory Homeowner Association parks as part of the County’s update process. CURRENT STATUS: WHAT’S NOT WORKING According to the participants, there is also a great deal not working in the county at the present time. Approximately fifty different aspects were identified, some dealing with specific areas that need to be addressed and others that were more general in nature. The following synthesized list is broken into (1) facilities and locations and (2) overarching planning goals: Facilities and Locations: 1.The Fairgrounds need to be fixed or sold or it will become a liability similar to the detention center. When/if the Fairgrounds are updated, it needs to be done as a park and accommodate a wide variety of users. In particular, better stock use access needs to be addressed as well as driving and parking access to the Haynes Pavilion. 2.There is a lack of guidance and policy for the development of the Regional Park in addition to other county parks. A “my-way-or-the-highway” approach was not seen as a sustainable response. 3.Leverich Canyon parking may need to occur in a “remote” site in relation to the trailhead in order to accommodate overflow parking. This site would be best situated in the neighboring county, residential area north of the trailhead. 4.The Gallatin Face Trail, as proposed by Terry Johnson, needs support at both state and local levels to be realized. 5.Patterson Road should not be paved, but highlighted as a natural-surfaced access to the Hyalite Foothills and South Cottonwood Trailhead areas. 6.Trails between Belgrade, Bozeman and Four Corners need to be developed in order to provide the backbone for a trails system that gets people where they need to go. 7.Parking and turnaround space at trailheads, particularly for stock use, is a problem in the county. 8.There are not enough usable fields in the county and those in place are not used efficiently. County parks should be inventoried and a scheduling plan put in place for their use. Better field equity policies need to be developed that include clear guidelines in regards to scheduling time. 4 Gallatin County Parks and Trails Committee User Groups Roundtable: October 6, 2009 ______________________________________________________ 9.County roads need to include enough right-of-way to accommodate multi-use paths. Existing roads should have their shoulders widened in order to provide roadside travel by non-auto means. A variety of dirt and paved shoulders should be the goal in order to accommodate as many users as possible. 10.Gravel roads need to be improved so driving them is not painful, but they should not be paved so that they can still be used for recreational purposes. Paving rural roads increases speeds and danger while decreasing access to nearby recreation. A better solution needs to be developed (such as wide unpaved shoulders) when and if a road needs to be paved that takes speed, safety, and recreation access into consideration. 11.The county needs to require all subdivisions to install trails and to connect them to existing trails so useful bike/ped travel routes are established. In addition, recreation facilities need to be located close to communities and connected through multi-use trails that accommodate bike/ped/horse/atv/etc. 12.Subdivision parks sometimes become “secret parks” even though they are public. Better signage is needed to inform people of where parks are located and which ones are open to the public. Homeowners Associations should be educated about the rights to parks in their subdivisions. 13.The job of purchasing and maintaining recreation infrastructure often falls to those who use them most. The money invested by the groups who take on this responsibility should bear influence on how and when facilities they fix get used. An in-kind donation “savings account” should be created with the county to track donations made by conscientious user groups. 14.There needs to be better coordination among those who want flat, grassy places to play organized sports. The attendees suggested forming a “Green Grass Coalition” to focus and capitalize on combined efforts. 15.The lack of shoulder maintenance on roads is a problem for biking long distances and for those who commute by bike. Rumble strips are also problematic. Policies should be developed to prioritize frequently biked areas so they can be better made and maintained for such uses. Examples include Huffine, Springhill th and South 19. 16.The Gallatin National Forest Wilderness Study Area is a contentious and difficult subject for many county residents. The county needs to show support for those who want access. Overarching Planning Goals: 17.The lack of cooperation and coordination between the cities and county, as well as between different user groups needs to be addressed. Coordination & communication between federal, state, county and city decision makers should 5 Gallatin County Parks and Trails Committee User Groups Roundtable: October 6, 2009 ______________________________________________________ be a priority. Partnerships between these entities will improve parks and trails planning. 18.There is a lack of leadership within the county to establish a vision for parks and trails and a lack of support for much needed infrastructure investment. The County needs to have a vision for the future of recreation in its jurisdiction that includes clear definitions and an overarching plan. In addition, the county needs to increase public funding of parks and trails, establish a Recreation Department and create a maintenance plan. One suggestion for a funding mechanism would be a $20 million bond for recreation infrastructure. 19.The economic development aspect of recreation needs to be considered. There is great potential for events and facilities that draw people from outside areas and get them to spend time and money here. 20.The misuse of parks and trails needs to be addressed with proper education, enforcement and an increase in personal responsibility. Creative solutions for vandalism, poop, and general maintenance and clean-up need to be developed. Maintenance is a critical issue. 21.It is important to keep youth engaged through recreation programming not only for health reasons but also to help young people develop into well-rounded adults. The majority of the towns in Gallatin County have good trail systems, but limited activities for youth. There is a growing need for activity-based youth programming to combat childhood diabetes and many other issues. 22.The City of Bozeman and Gallatin County need to implement the recently updated Greater Bozeman Area Transportation Plan. 23.There is a need for more trails that access towns for all users, particularly horses. 24.If vehicles have a “right” to public routes, so should those who are not driving cars. 25.There needs to be a concerted effort to increase public education about user group conflicts and trail etiquette. For example, the “startle factor” between bikes/motorcycles/cars and horses is not well understood by most non-horse users. Decreasing speeds, stopping, and proper horse training all need to be promoted. 26.Horse drawn vehicles need to be better considered in planning for recreation access. The use of county roads for training and transportation does occur and should not be overlooked as the area continues to grow. Of particular importance is the speed at which traffic travels around horse-drawn vehicles. 27.Proper signage at road crossings for intersecting vehicular and multi use traffic is critical and should be addressed through collaboration between state and local transportation entities. In addition, signage that educates horse riders or drivers, motorized/mechanized users & pedestrians about trail etiquette that is 6 Gallatin County Parks and Trails Committee User Groups Roundtable: October 6, 2009 ______________________________________________________ multi-jurisdictional and aims to reduce user conflicts should be designed and installed throughout the county. 28.Losing access to recreation due to development is a major concern and current open space requirements are not always an improvement. The County Subdivision Regulations should be changed to be more park and trail oriented, as opposed to just open space. In addition, developers should be required to take into greater account the impacts their projects will have on areas currently used for recreation. On a related note, some participants felt the Open Space Bond was misleading in that it was not being used to gain more access to recreation, but rather to support private landowners. They offered that public financing should be better defined in the future and, in the mean time, Open Space funding should be used for properties that include public access to recreation more often. 29.The county needs to plan for diverse recreation needs (bike/ped/horse/atv/etc.) and work to establish more public access to parks and trails in all jurisdictions. Remote access should be a goal as well in cooperation with the Forest Service. Access closures are a multi-use problem. In particular motorcycles, atv, snowmobiles, and OHV need to be considered. Access to recreation is also a health issue that deserves more public funding. WAYS TO ADDRESS CONCERNS In order to address what is not working in Gallatin County, the participants provided a large variety of suggestions. Inventorying all Homeowners Associations in the county about their parks and trails was suggested as a way to begin understanding what is available and what people are willing to do to improve certain areas. Open space, trails and park lands were recommended for the “Triangle” area between Belgrade, Bozeman and Four Corners. River access as well as ditches were suggested for trail siting, though ditches were quickly objected to as nearby trails would present difficult liability issues. A county-wide Park Maintenance District was suggested with a reliable and sufficient funding mechanism, such as user fees and open space bond money. The proposed “Green Grass Coalition” could also be a potential revenue generator. Another thought was to access the hotel bed tax, which generates money for community efforts. Participants recommended a joint government/user group “think tank” to meet on a regular basis to share ideas, establish where needs exist and what funding sources are available. It was mentioned that a good model for this kind of effort could be found in Kalispell. In regards to road paving, it was recommended that if a road has insufficient Right-of-Way then it should not be paved. On a larger planning level, the group suggested the county take control of sewer and water in order to better organize 7 Gallatin County Parks and Trails Committee User Groups Roundtable: October 6, 2009 ______________________________________________________ growth around community services and mixed-use neighborhoods with good connectivity of roads, trails, and parklands. TO DO: Collectively The group discussed who should be responsible for meeting these goals. On a collaborative basis, they recommended better sharing and pooling of resources to improve area facilities. In order to do so, differences among user groups would need to be overcome. Education was seen as the best means to begin this process. In regards to existing conditions, it was recommended that neighbors begin to work together to address needed right-of-way in their area for a desired trail connection. Developing models and structures that allow neighbors to collaborate would be helpful. Recreation easements, utility easements, and trail easements in exchange for tax credits, for example, would be of assistance. Non-profits such as GVLT were willing to assist with easement acquisition. Proper leadership could also help user groups work together to address maintenance issues and resource sharing. A county park improvement grant fund may be a way to give support to community members trying to improve their area. Working together in the meantime to create the county’s parks and trails plan was the most important collective “to do” item. TO DO: Individually Individually, there were several roles for community members and invested individual organizations to play. Of primary importance was educating folks about user group conflicts, trail etiquette, safety and health. In addition, user groups saw it as their role to help tie funding to uses, so recreation investments would be seen as a direct payback of any public funding generated through levies, taxes, user fees, or any other mechanism. The group agreed it was important to keep the economic benefits of recreation in plain view of the general public in order to keep their support. It was suggested that horse-drawn users provide rides for hire through a county-wide buggy system to raise money as well as help educate other large animal owners about farm and ranch trail easements. The goal to preserve the area’s ranching/farming heritage was seen as a driving factor for connecting area destinations and neighborhoods, which would allow for a horse-based transit system that would also accommodate bike/ped./motor access. It was suggested the county engage in a financial analysis to study user group needs specifically. The analysis should investigate the money generated by different user groups vs. the cost of the facilities they need in addition to their upkeep in order to answer the question, “If we develop y fields (or other facility), it will bring in x amount of money.” Demographics and logistics should also be taken into 8 Gallatin County Parks and Trails Committee User Groups Roundtable: October 6, 2009 ______________________________________________________ consideration in order to best prioritize and situate new investments. A subcommittee to deal with funding alone should be created regardless of what the county does about a recreation department. Perhaps this entity could be under the auspices of the Parks Commission. Priorities need to be set by the county in a fair and clear manner, not by “squeaky wheels.” A trail corridor between Belgrade and Bozeman needs to be a top priority of the County. It was also recommended that someone run for public office on a recreation campaign. 9