Stephens park mountain bike trails moline

[Bill.specht]

image.jpgSo to those who have not been to monthly meetings there has been talk about starting bike trails at Stephens park in moline! Well I ve been talking to the parks director and am now ready to bring the matter up with the park board. The next park board meeting is Thursday March 26th at 3:30 pm. I am asking for some forc board members to attend the meeting with me to field any questions the park board may have that I cannot answer. Specifically trail stewards and insurance guys would be most helpful,but all are welcome. I am new at this type of endeavor so the more forc members there the better! Any input would be appreciated! Please post, board members, if you can help and attend this meeting. Thanks for your help and support.

Bill Specht


check out attachment for trail proposal

[Russhole]

i probably will not be able to make it. we are working some over time next week.

[Bill.specht]

Forgot to mention the meeting is at the public works building. 3635 4 th ave moline

[DH001]

The loop as drawn is around 0.9 miles. Is there room for more trail out there? I walked the existing trail a few years ago and remember it was really steep back in there.

[Bill.specht]

Well I clocked a half a mile on the existing trail. That added to the proposed trail would be close to two miles. That is an estimate. Yes it is pretty steep. There is an empty lot just north of the park that could be used to add trail. The city owns the property and I just started a conversation with the city to use it for trails... But that would be in the future. Ya it would be a short system but I do think it would be worth the effort.

[Bexter]

Funny thing. I am originally from Moline, attended Ericsson Grade School in the West End (just down the hill from Stephens Park), and tromped around Stephens Park as a kid plenty. Jon and I were on a motorcycle ride Sunday and we were stopped at the red light on 5th Avenue at 4th Street (4th Street runs along the Western edge of Stephens Park). While sitting there, I found myself peering at the hillside of timber and thinking that maybe there could be 2 or so miles of trail at that park. I don't live too terribly far from there and could help.

[SugarShane]

I'm all in. I cannot make the meeting but I will offer some man hours.

[Bill.specht]

Yes the park does have potential. It could be a fun yet short trail system. Great for the folks that live nearby and can just ride to the park. Hopefully the meeting will go well and work can begin soon. I have been going through the park a lot lately and I m thinkin a lot could get done in a short amount of time. Thanks for showing interest In the park and offering help!
I have one board member Committed to the meeting, hoping for one more! The meeting is Thursday March 26th at 3:30pm. Thanks again for showing interest

[Bexter]

Heck, we eeked out 3.85 miles at Sylvan Island! I haven't been through the woods at Stephens in decades. Perhaps this would be a fun trail-runner's destination as well (and no doubt walkers given the close proximity to residential areas). Perhaps the Plan for Adventure people may have interest in helping build the trail system. Their community advocacy is awesome, and they are always looking for places within the community for their adventures and have regularly expressed interest in helping FORC. I'll get in touch with Mike Kinney.

[Bill.specht]

That sounds great .the more people to help the faster trails get built!! Given we have permission...

[jJohnson]

I run the trail through there a lot. It's fun, but falling apart. IIRC, there are some small BMX built trails/jumps back there that some kids dug out themselves, too. It's super steep, but I think we could set up a few miles back there.

[Bill.specht]

Park board meeting tonight. We will find out if we can proceed with revitalization of Stephens park trails

[Bill.specht]

Well Eric perry, Drew Hanson and myself pitched the Stephens park bike trails to the park board last night. They seemed interested, and had a handful of questions about the project. Eric and Drew did a great job fielding the q's from the board and I thank them for that! So the next step is to meet with bernita Reese on site to discuss the project. This morning a reporter from the Dispatch called to talk about the plans for the park, so keep your eyes peeled for a story on this matter in the newspaper!

[Russhole]

Nice work, Bill. Looks like we may need a new trail steward soon.

[jimithng23]

Excellent work on this, Bill. Thank you.

[Bill.specht]

Here's the link to the dispatch news article http://m1.qconline.com/article.html#...15b6dc415a2c97

[SugarShane]

Here's the link to the dispatch news article http://m1.qconline.com/article.html#...15b6dc415a2c97

Nice job William!

[SpinStir]

Yes, good job pushing this forward!

[Tigris99]

Wth they took down the article already lol. Either great job on this! Thnx for the efforts

[hildebrandz]

http://www.qconline.com/news/local/o...83845b074.html

[Bill.specht]

The moline Park board was presented with the Stephens park mtb trail proposal this afternoon and officially approved the building of the trail system! Thanks Drew and Jordan for your presence at the meeting and all forc members for supporting this project.

[Russhole]

That's great news Bill! Thanks for spearheading this. It will be great for Moline to get some new trails.

[DH001]

Nice work Bill. Proper trails at Stephens will be a great addition to the area and hopefully get more people interested in MTB.

[Bexter]

Nice work Bill!