HNTW Presenation to Chebucto Community Council

I wonder what “…a level of planning…” means…

halifaxnewsnet.ca/News/2012- … f-dreams/1

I’d love to see them do a linear park trail the length of northwest arm drive from old sambro road to the BLIP trail. It would make getting to wrandees that much easier/more fun and I could include a whopper ride as well without going on very much pavement.

Are you thinking the Long Lake Park side or the developed side of NW Arm Drive? Groomed crusher dust trail?

When I’ve ridden along Chain of Lakes Trail, I keep looking to the sides of the trail and wonder if there’s potential to build singletrack paralleling the trail.

Notice from HNWTA:

Hello all,

We have just learned that HRM Staff and Chebucto Community Council will be hosting a Public Meeting at St Peters Church Hall, Dakin Drive and Kearney Lake Rd at the Bedford Highway. Come early (6:30 PM) to look at some great maps.

Halifax North West Trails has been involved since the early discussions about the proposed Regional Park and is excited to share that progress is being made. HRM Staff and the Protected Areas Branch of NS Environment have been discussing a Grand Vision for the Regional Park and will be making a presentation at 7:00 PM. Next steps will be crafted over the next few months.
Please come out and support this event. We need strong (overwhelming) public support to convince HRM Regional Council that we want to move ahead to make the Regional Park a reality!!

See you on the 31st and bring your friends and neighbours so they can learn about this future park, destined to be the largest near-urban Wilderness Park in Canada!

More details will be posted as they become available.

the door is open for possible dedicated mtb trails in the hrm, and someone from bns should make a showing at this.
sadly i can’t.
it’s tonight.

Link to information with maps here:
halifax.ca/RealPropertyPlann … lakes.html

Link to information with maps:
http://www.halifax.ca/RealPropertyPlanning/bluemountainbirchcovelakes.html

mountain biking has been mentioned in their plans, they want mountain biking input. please don’t waste this opportunity.

Not sure there’s a lot of immediate concern as a result of this meeting, and I’m not sure how much is news.
Meeting was well attended (100-200 people).
The meeting was to announce HRM is planning to make a mega-park encompassing the area just north of the Whopper Dropper trails all the way to Hammonds Plains Road. The area is huge, and they’re hoping to have corridors into the land around Pockwock and the Five Bridges Wilderness Area. The concept is to have a “Front Country” with developments such as Shubie Park-like trails, and a “Back Country” wilderness area that will have minimal development. They want the park boundaries to be around the ridge lines surrounding the park, so that the watersheds are enclosed by the park, and urban areas will not be seen from within the park. Whopper Dropper area was not mentioned, and I don’t think is included as part of the park, as that land is/has been sold to a developer, and is slated for development.
There were a couple of negative comments, one from a NS Environment staff member, and another from a crowd member about groups of “rogue trailbuilders”. I asked the provincial staffer afterward where these trails were, and if they were building in designated wilderness areas, thinking about “Evil Birch”. Evil Birch is actually on Armco property, so that’s not one of them. The trails he was thinking of are off of Kearney Lake and heading toward Blue Mountain.
I also asked an HRM staffer afterward about the likely timing of development of the Whopper Dropper area. He said that the developer seems to be in no rush to develop the land. There’s already vacant office/retail space in the Bayers Lake area, and with development at Dartmouth Crossing and Bedford/Sackville, there currently doesn’t seem to be a lot of demand for new retail space. Consequently, he doesn’t see anything happening to the Whopper Dropper for at least a year or two. (So don’t do any of your shopping in Bayers Lake - kidding :slight_smile: )

What does all this mean for mountain bikers?
Not sure yet. We’re still in early planning stages, and HRM will need to acquire land. They said the process will take time - Peter Bigelow, the presenter said he’s 51, and may not live to see the completion of the park. He said it will not take place in a linear fashion, and will likely take place in scattered bits and pieces.

I’m concerned about mountain bikers getting access to the back country. I’m concerned that the planners/developers may not have the awarenesss/knowledge/expertise to develop trails for mountain biking. I’m concerned that if trail builders start unauthorized trails, that they will get shut down, and mountain bikes will be excluded from the wilderness areas.

However, there is huge potential. There is a very large area to put trails on. If you go to Google Maps and look at the area bounded by Washmill Lake, Charlie’s Lake, Fox Lake and Quarry Lake, there looks to be a lot of open granite. I don’t know what that area looks like on the ground, but there may be potential to have a large area of Whopper-like open granite to ride on.

Whatever happens, we need to have a mountain biking voice at the table as the park develops. Right now, that looks to me to be NSMTBTA/BNS.

good job eric.
thanx for the update.
(lol) rogue trail builders.

So in 20-40+ years there might be a completed park that might have legal mtb trails in it?
If the whopper area gets developed in 1-2 years (which sounds fast for not being in a rush to develop) it is gonna be hard to keep ‘rogue builders’ out of there I would think.

I did a quick overlay of the park proposal map on google earth just to see. The red line is whopper, green and purple lines are the proposed park boundries. The green areas are provincially owned, yellow is HRM owned (now sold?).

Thanks for the overlay. That does help to know what we’ll keep and what will go. Looks like Lake Loop, SusieQ, and Death March (trails above green dotted line) might be OK.

had another talk with someone who knows a little about the city’s\province’s plan. they want mtb’er input, it is not as negative as some would be led to believe (only 3-4 people voiced negativity towards mtbs, out of 200 people at the last meeting). they want to envolve mtb’ing in their plans. it will be a first for the province, provincial park with a proper trail\trails for non motorized 2 wheeled vehicles. plus it might be job opportunities for the few who have trail building skill.
imagine a whopper styled trail but a little grey gravel added to ease the rough spots…

Trails meeting at the old port tomorrow night at 7. Please be there to discuss this more if you can.

it’s not a case of mtbr’s meeting and dreaming. this is a case where an aknowledged group should show up and talk with the city \ province at the next meeting, and make our voice heard. i’d probably be more useful as a worker than a spokesperson in such cases as this. i’ll try and check out this meeting though.
all i know is they want shubie grey gravel path or loops near an entrance \parking area, then some back woods styled footpaths to some lakes. then we come into play, they want to know what we want, and maybe some ways to create what we want, and plans to keep what we want in reasonable shape.
as to specifics, i’m not sure if they want us to refurbish what’s left over from whopper or if they’re going to give up space on the other end of the powerline. i don’t think they’re even sure.

Yes I know, but please come and let us know what you want us to input into the discussion.