Politics & Government

Lafayette Council Says "No" to BMX Park

Costs and safety cited as main reasons for turning down bike park plan.

After five years and more than $100,000 in studies, the Lafayette City Council Monday nixed a proposed BMX bicycle park proposed for the south end of Lafayette Community Park.

The plan began in 2008 as a relatively modest proposal with little or no community objection, spawned after bike riders constructed crude bike ramps in a nearby creek. But the sighting of an endangered frog on the site, with the subsequent rise in the cost of environmental studies and mitigation, and an equal rise in opposition from park neighbors, caused the council to unanimously remove the proposal from the 2014 budget.

The vote came after a nearly three-hour parade of citizens took turns at the podium, mostly denouncing the idea as too expensive, too destructive, and too potentially dangerous.

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“This is an atrocious invitation to trouble and crime,” said park neighbor Janet Callow, who like several other speakers noted that there were no plans for adult supervision at the park.

“Do kids in Lafayette have to have everything?” asked Bill Clausen, who balked at the park’s estimated $350,000 price tag, and an estimated $25,000 per year in maintenance costs. “We have trouble paying for and maintaining what we already have.”

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“I want the focus to go back to our kids,” said proponent Garret Harley. “This is for them.”

Councilman Brandt Andersson supported the need for the park, but said the cost and lack of supervision caused him to pull it from the city’s budget.

Councilman Mark Mitchell said his primary concern was the fact that the park could not be seen from the street.

“Some kid’s going to go in there after dinner unsupervised, get badly hurt and will just be there until someone comes along and finds him,” Mitchell said.

Councilwoman Traci Reilly noted safety as a concern, but said her biggest objection was the cost.

“This just doesn’t seem prudent,” she said.

Vice Mayor Don Tatzin said the growing costs of operating the park gave him pause, as well as the level of public opposition.

Mayor Mike Anderson agreed, noting that projects involving public parklands should not be subject to the level of opposition this particular project has drawn over the past year. But he also called on the community to find new locations for parks that can accommodate uses like a BMX track and other non-conventional kinds of recreation. 


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