Brian McBride, a longtime Arlington resident and a member of the town’s Open Space Committee, provided this viewpoint. For more information alternative to the proposed project at Hill’s Hill, see www.SaveHillsHill.com.
Mountain-bikng ramps like those proposed.
Across town from the controversial Mugar woods development, another of Arlington’s wooded habitats is under threat. In this case, Hill’s Hill, a six-acre publicly owned parcel, is the site of a town proposal for the construction of a mountain-bike park. The woods, along Summer Street next to the Burns arena, are home to hawks, owls, a blueberry patch and growing oak and aspens. It deserves our protection.
The $400,000 proposal from the Park & Recreation Commission has gone through a feasibility study and public-comment period. The study includes a preliminary design with a 8,000-square-foot “pump track,” shown in photo, in the middle of the Hill’s Hill woods. Smaller training areas are shown on the woods’ perimeter. Existing, unauthorized mountain bike trails would be upgraded around the site’s perimeter. Total built area might be 25,000 square feet. The net effect would be a recreational zone in place of a quiet patch of woods.
Feedback about the study was passionate. More than half of the public comments were either negative – against the project altogether, or conditional — rejecting a pump track in the woods. Slightly under half supported the project.
The next step is a funding decision by the Community Preservation Act (CPA) Committee. Unfortunately, the presented proposal places no restrictions on the design, despite the substantial feedback asking for protection of the woods.
The CPA is to meet Wednesday, Nov. 2, from 6 to 8 p.m.,for preliminary proposal review.
The CPA process continues throughout December to hone the final proposals.
We ask the CPA Committee to restrict funding to a protect Hill’s Hill. A compromise that serves young bikers and nature is possible. It should include key restrictions supported by the “Eco-Track” proponents:
- The pump track to be restricted to outside the Hill’s Hill woods;
- Low-impact/eco-friendly bike trail upgrades should be required; and
- Habitat restoration to be funded and supported by community projects/partnerships.
Eco-Track is the label we’ve given to improvements that we ask be added to the current feasibility study proposal to reduce habitat harm.
This is an important decision to protect one of our few remaining wooded spaces. Unprecedented development pressures are reducing natural patches around Arlington. Let’s not spend Community Preservation funds on habitat destruction.
Aug. 3, 2022: More than 80 hear discussion of Hill’s Hill bike-park plan
This viewpoint was published Tuesday, Nov. 1, 2022.
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