By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
Chris Smalley hesitated to set a completion date for the bike park in Rudolph, lest he jinx the project which has hit several rough patches over the last couple years.
But Smalley, the Wood County Park District director, is hopeful that cyclists will be zipping around the course sometime next month. Tar and chip are being applied this week, and a punch list of items will be inspected soon.
“I think once we do open it, people are really going to be happy with it,” Smalley said Tuesday during a meeting of the park district board of commissioners.
Smalley said every park district department has been chipping in to get the bike park finished.
“I will say ‘thank you’ as a park board member and a taxpayer,” Tom Myers said to Smalley for his efforts to bring all the parties together to get the project done.
Earlier this summer, the board learned that the bike park project had been stalled since it was discovered that it encroached on the right-of-way along Rudolph Road and required a zoning variance.
The track designer, PumpTrax USA, agreed to modify the design, and shift the track away from Rudolph Road, which was acceptable to Liberty Township zoning officials.
After Tuesday’s meeting, Smalley said the delays were primarily caused by miscommunication between the partners working on the bike park – the contractor, Liberty Township officials, and the park district.
It was a matter of “untying the Gordian knot,” Smalley said. “We’ve been able to work things out.”
“I know it’s been a slow, tedious process,” he said. “Once we open it, it will be a long-term benefit for residents of Wood County and beyond.”
The pump track park will include 1,783 lineal feet of rolling hills and banked curves. The Rudolph Bike Park is adjacent to the 13.1-mile Slippery Elm Trail that runs between Bowling Green and North Baltimore.
The bike park is intended to attract new, younger patrons. It is designed for multiple skill levels, so it can be used by beginners to advanced mountain bikers.
Unlike regular bicyclers, who propel themselves by pedaling, pump bicyclers generate momentum by pumping with up and down body movements as the bikes traverse hills and valleys of the course
In a 2018 public survey with more than 2,000 Wood County respondents, 43.5% of people requested more bike trails and increased access, with 55% of those respondents requesting non-traditional biking opportunities.
In other business at Tuesday’s meeting, Smalley said the park district is continuing to get rid of unnecessary surplus equipment, including five vehicles and four canoes.
“This is my continued goal to clean things up,” Smalley told the board.
The surplus items are being sold on the Wood County online auction site.
In other business:
- The board accepted a bid of $8,500 from Toby Ernsthausen for painting the trim at the Otsego Park Thompson Stone Hall.
- Entered a memorandum of understanding regarding the reporting of child abuse and neglect, between the park police force, Wood County Job and Family Services and the Wood County Prosecutor’s Office.
- Board member Denny Parish offered to donate $500 to the Friends of the Park District for its birdseed sale, with the seeds purchased to help fill the park district’s four bird feeders.
