Post by Tim on Jun 11, 2009 23:53:46 GMT -5
Kyle wanted me to post some info for you guys to chew on. He doesn't have access to internet right now. He's looking for everyone's opinions or ideas on his bike park plans for Evansville.
Feel free to read through what I posted and give your opinions or ask questions.
I'm sure he'll be around soon, he hasn't even signed up on the
new forum yet.
____________________________________________________
just FYI.... My correspondence with the Blitch is below....
Hello Ben- I just wanted to let you know that I have an appointment with the Evansville Parks and Recreation Dept next week and am planning on introducing the bike park concept to them.
A few things: Would you be willing to meet with them when you come to town? If so what can I do to make your visit with them stronger.... such as:
1) gather a core group of riders who support the project....
2) gather a petition of interested persons in the general public, both riders and non riders?
I'll find out about land availability. There are a few parcels I know of that are available for development.
Size of Park: In reference to your presentation at the trail builders conference, are you able to go larger than the conservation infilling concept of pocket bike parks? I haven't been able to see your large scale work in a cad or other hard plan so I don't know to what size and scope you normally build.
I do however like the versatility of the Lyons Colorado bike park... on Lee Likes Bikes.....
Pump track, Table tops (however 6 foot might be to much for the likings of the Evansville Parks and rec dept), technical skills that appear to be integrated with the pump track.
Also- There is no bike club here in Evansville to act as a host group. Let me rephrase that: The Evansville Bike Club is for roadies. My request for involvement from the EBC board regarding MTB and BMX have gone unanswered.
What to do?
Anyway- Any recommendations on getting the ball rolling would be really nifty-
Have fun in Canada. Sorry but I check your blog daily. You have fans.... that's fans, not stalkers.
Peace- Kyle
**********************************
Kyle,
Canada was interesting, it is far more foreign of an experience in Quebec tha it was in BC.
I would love to meet with the Parks and Rec folks while there. There are two good steps you can take in the meeting with them.
1.) Show them successful examples of these types of projects from around the country.
2.) Show them a local/regional need for this type of facility in the area. Letters of support are usually good enough. Start with the local bike shops.
Land availability would be good. Try to find three different location. Then we can discuss the potential project sites and weight their merits.
I can build a project on any size scale. I am getting ready for a 4.5 acre skills oriented project and another 2.5 acre project of a similar scale. The PTBA presentation was simply a way to show people quick to estimate turnkey projects. I find that 2-2.5 acres partially wooded and open is about ideal for a destination skills-type facility. The one thing I will say is the larger the project gets, the more expensive it gets.
Lee's park looks okay, I have done projects like this before. I do have a few changes I think that park could use. It seems a bit stale to me and I wonder about its life cycle as a park.
Instead of depending on a bike club for maintenance we can think about signing into a maintenance agreement. During the build, if the park is in a good location and is very visible, getting local support should be easy. Again, speak to the local shops and perhaps a local BMX club.
Try this stuff and let me know how things go at the meeting. Thanks again,
Ben
_____________________________________________________
Anyway- so you know- I fear trying to do something like this (at least on a large scale) at harmonie because of maintenance concerns. So I'm going to hold off on immediate work there until Ben comes to town and can scope out the area and give some insight, and also wait for harmonie to attract a few more dedicated people... and get more riders involved in the process, and then proceed with bike Park at Harmonie.
for the Evansville Park.... evansvillebikepark.webs.com
I'm building the site to act as an informational dump for the project, and will transfer the info to my host monstor sites which domains include evansvillebikepark.com
and evansvillebike.com
probable available locations..... State Hospital grounds, just east of the Vann soccer fields is city parks property, Angel mounds field at the boat ramp, dog town is avail but I want to stay away from it because it floods and it's too far out, Burdette could be another possibility, Is motoux park in use??? when the mayor builds the new stadium what will happen with the whole roberts area? I hope it will fold into Wesselman park...........
roberts availability with backing from a multitude of host groups could yield a signifigant bike park facility with outdoor velodrome, paved path riding, technical skills park, slaloms, dirt jumps, pump tracks, bike cleaning stations, and a place to host bike safety trainings and skill development classes....
Funding- Looking at Swonder skate park, $ was fitted by the West side Nut club and I'm going ot get more information on this setup soon....
Typically Ben attracts city parks to the table by mutual agreements by construction and maintenance assists by local bike clubs and the general riding public which makes it "cheap" to build. If we are talking about doing a dirt facility only (skills, jumps, pump tracks) we can get the dirt dropped from local construction and getting some donations from excavators, bike shops, optimists, lions, Dan's, and other groups... I'll get more info from Ben regarding other parks and how their plans were completed...
Feel free to read through what I posted and give your opinions or ask questions.
I'm sure he'll be around soon, he hasn't even signed up on the
new forum yet.
____________________________________________________
just FYI.... My correspondence with the Blitch is below....
Hello Ben- I just wanted to let you know that I have an appointment with the Evansville Parks and Recreation Dept next week and am planning on introducing the bike park concept to them.
A few things: Would you be willing to meet with them when you come to town? If so what can I do to make your visit with them stronger.... such as:
1) gather a core group of riders who support the project....
2) gather a petition of interested persons in the general public, both riders and non riders?
I'll find out about land availability. There are a few parcels I know of that are available for development.
Size of Park: In reference to your presentation at the trail builders conference, are you able to go larger than the conservation infilling concept of pocket bike parks? I haven't been able to see your large scale work in a cad or other hard plan so I don't know to what size and scope you normally build.
I do however like the versatility of the Lyons Colorado bike park... on Lee Likes Bikes.....
Pump track, Table tops (however 6 foot might be to much for the likings of the Evansville Parks and rec dept), technical skills that appear to be integrated with the pump track.
Also- There is no bike club here in Evansville to act as a host group. Let me rephrase that: The Evansville Bike Club is for roadies. My request for involvement from the EBC board regarding MTB and BMX have gone unanswered.
What to do?
Anyway- Any recommendations on getting the ball rolling would be really nifty-
Have fun in Canada. Sorry but I check your blog daily. You have fans.... that's fans, not stalkers.
Peace- Kyle
**********************************
Kyle,
Canada was interesting, it is far more foreign of an experience in Quebec tha it was in BC.
I would love to meet with the Parks and Rec folks while there. There are two good steps you can take in the meeting with them.
1.) Show them successful examples of these types of projects from around the country.
2.) Show them a local/regional need for this type of facility in the area. Letters of support are usually good enough. Start with the local bike shops.
Land availability would be good. Try to find three different location. Then we can discuss the potential project sites and weight their merits.
I can build a project on any size scale. I am getting ready for a 4.5 acre skills oriented project and another 2.5 acre project of a similar scale. The PTBA presentation was simply a way to show people quick to estimate turnkey projects. I find that 2-2.5 acres partially wooded and open is about ideal for a destination skills-type facility. The one thing I will say is the larger the project gets, the more expensive it gets.
Lee's park looks okay, I have done projects like this before. I do have a few changes I think that park could use. It seems a bit stale to me and I wonder about its life cycle as a park.
Instead of depending on a bike club for maintenance we can think about signing into a maintenance agreement. During the build, if the park is in a good location and is very visible, getting local support should be easy. Again, speak to the local shops and perhaps a local BMX club.
Try this stuff and let me know how things go at the meeting. Thanks again,
Ben
_____________________________________________________
Anyway- so you know- I fear trying to do something like this (at least on a large scale) at harmonie because of maintenance concerns. So I'm going to hold off on immediate work there until Ben comes to town and can scope out the area and give some insight, and also wait for harmonie to attract a few more dedicated people... and get more riders involved in the process, and then proceed with bike Park at Harmonie.
for the Evansville Park.... evansvillebikepark.webs.com
I'm building the site to act as an informational dump for the project, and will transfer the info to my host monstor sites which domains include evansvillebikepark.com
and evansvillebike.com
probable available locations..... State Hospital grounds, just east of the Vann soccer fields is city parks property, Angel mounds field at the boat ramp, dog town is avail but I want to stay away from it because it floods and it's too far out, Burdette could be another possibility, Is motoux park in use??? when the mayor builds the new stadium what will happen with the whole roberts area? I hope it will fold into Wesselman park...........
roberts availability with backing from a multitude of host groups could yield a signifigant bike park facility with outdoor velodrome, paved path riding, technical skills park, slaloms, dirt jumps, pump tracks, bike cleaning stations, and a place to host bike safety trainings and skill development classes....
Funding- Looking at Swonder skate park, $ was fitted by the West side Nut club and I'm going ot get more information on this setup soon....
Typically Ben attracts city parks to the table by mutual agreements by construction and maintenance assists by local bike clubs and the general riding public which makes it "cheap" to build. If we are talking about doing a dirt facility only (skills, jumps, pump tracks) we can get the dirt dropped from local construction and getting some donations from excavators, bike shops, optimists, lions, Dan's, and other groups... I'll get more info from Ben regarding other parks and how their plans were completed...
