Bike park planned for Bishop’s City Park
Some residents raise public safety concerns
The Bishop City Council on Monday adopted a negative declaration document regarding a proposed bike park in the City Park but council members stressed that park proponents need to work with neighbors to address their concerns.
The area in City Park where the bike park is planned is currently an undeveloped and undisturbed area between a soccer field, the community gardens and an outdoor exercise equipment set, according to project plans.
The initial idea was introduced by Bishop Union High School students Stephan Poole and Wyatt Schober, who were present at Monday’s meeting and had made presentations to the city council and the city’s Planning Commission previously. The council and commission voiced initial support for the project.
Dan McElroy, the city’s Community Services manager, said the city’s master plan shows future baseball diamonds in this area.
Concerns of neighbors
A few Bishop residents who live in the area raised concerns about hours of operations, which hadn’t been specified in the plans, public safety issues and the general impact it could have on the neighborhood.
Bishop resident Michele Hartshorn, who said her Third Street home backs up against the Community Garden in the City Park, said the area has seen a lot of change since she purchased her home.
She said the original plans for a walk/bike path from the City Park to downtown streets included lighting for public safety but it wasn’t installed. This poses a danger not only to those using the path but the residents whose homes are near the path.
Hartshorn said while she appreciates the Community Garden and the work of the area’s master gardeners, after dark a “different element” visits the Community Garden.
“This element does things out there that should not be done in public, Hartshorn said.
During Monday’s council meeting, other residents brought up similar concerns that the bike park could bring and negatively impact the neighborhood.
The council stressed that the negative declaration only applies to California Environmental Quality Act requirements and a planning process still would have to be worked through before and if the park could be approved and move forward. McElroy said the bike park could be dismantled if the city decides to go forward with constructing baseball fields at this location.
He said since the future of the bike park isn’t guaranteed, the development will happen incrementally.
McElroy said the The Bishop Bike Park Project proposes to construct a bike park for all ages and all skill levels using volunteer labor and materials purchased with donations and grants. The park would feature a bike skills course, which will include age and ability appropriate trail systems, jump lines, pump track, and obstacles, tool shed, proper trail signage and map.
He said it is expected that construction would proceed with a pump track, skills area and a jump line, in that respective order. The bike park does not propose to remove any trees.