By Kellie Woodhouse<\/p>\n
Elkridge residents Wednesday showed dozens of seasoned mountain bikers that they\u2019re not the only ones who can master the attack position, an alert stance bikers use when they ride through rocky terrain.<\/p>\n
Members of Mid-Atlantic Off Road Enthusiasts, a mountain biking advocacy group, and the county\u2019s Department of Recreation and Parks want to built a one-acre mountain bike skills course at Rockburn Branch Park, in Elkridge.<\/p>\n
But residents who border the park are concerned about the increased traffic and illegal activity they fear will follow.<\/p>\n
The two groups debated the issue at a meeting Wednesday at the department\u2019s headquarters on Oakland Mills Road held by the Recreation and Parks Advisory Board.<\/p>\n
MORE members say that course will be a family-oriented area with beginner and immediate level tracks that will allow bikers to improve their skills. The course, they say, will be built and maintained with grants and money from MORE.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a place where you can sit in the shade, see your children working on their bike skills,\u201d said MORE representative Melanie Nystrom, whose two young children are mountain bikers.<\/p>\n
But Nystrom and her fellow mountain bikers faced some strong, unexpected opposition from neighbors who aren\u2019t convinced the county has considered the impact the course could have on Rockburn, a park they say is already overburdened with visitors on weekends. <\/p>\n
They say park visitors speed down their streets and park on their curbs, and that bikers often use residential yards to illegally access the park after dark.<\/p>\n
Elkridge residents also complained that the county did not inform them of the public meeting.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe definitely feel that this has been swept under the rug. As residents that border that park, nothing was done to try
\nto let us know what has been proposed,\u201d said Elkridge resident Yvonne Rawleigh, who said she found out about the meeting by chance three days earlier. \u201cWe have major issues with the population already in Rockburn Park.\u201d<\/p>\n
Parks department Director John Byrd said the county is not required to notify residents of the meeting or even to hold a public meeting on the issue. <\/p>\n
\u201cMountain biking is a serious trend,\u201d Byrd said. \u201cThis is an opportunity for us to embrace it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Elkridge resident Steven Rawleigh said the park already has issues with illegal drug activity, which he fears will get worse if the skills course is constructed.<\/p>\n
Other residents say they are concerned about rainwater run-off increasing watershed at Rockburn Creek.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy concern is about the process that was used,\u201d said Elkridge resident Katherine Taylor. \u201cThe policy decisions behind this project, the cost involved \u2014the intangible and unknown costs \u2014 the environment, what benefit there will be to the Howard County residents (and) the draw that this will bring to Rockburn Park.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have no doubt that MORE… will make this a state-of-the art facility, it\u2019s just not appropriate for where it\u2019s proposed to be.\u201d<\/p>\n
But mountain bikers at the meeting \u2014 who outnumbered opponents \u2014 said Rockburn Park was the perfect location for such a venue.<\/p>\n
North Laurel resident Todd Plunkett, a mountain biker, said he\u2019s \u201calways looking\u201d for places to improve his skills.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo have the ability to be with my family at the skills park… I can\u2019t even imagine it,\u201d he said excitedly.<\/p>\n
Elkridge resident Delos Dupree said he learned to mountain bike on a bumpy trail, without any training. As a result, Dupree said he\u2019s taken many mud dives and suffered several injuries. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe found out by trial and error, I think it would be a great blessing for the younger generation not to go through the pain and suffering that we had to,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
He also reminded the panel and opponents of the idea behind public parks.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Howard County park system is for everybody, it\u2019s not for people who abut next to it,\u201d he said. \u201cJust because you live there, it doesn\u2019t make it your backyard.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ellicott City real estate agent and mountain biker Matt Zielinski likened the complaints to some of his clients\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey want to buy a house on the golf course, but then they complain when they find golf balls in their backyard,\u201d he said. \u201cIt seems like you don\u2019t want to share (Rockburn Park) with anybody else.\u201d<\/p>\n
By the end of the meeting, some residents appeared willing to compromise with the bikers, and vice versa.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is something that we can do together, instead of trying to be adversarial with each other,\u201d Zielinski said.<\/p>\n
The advisory board said it would schedule an additional meeting to discuss the matter.<\/p>\n
Comments on the plan can be sent to:
\nDepartment of Recreation and Parks
\nJohn Byrd, director
\n7120 Oakland Mills Rd.
\nColumbia, MD 21046-1621
\nemail: Jbyrd@howardcountymd.gov<\/p>\n