Fwd: FW: Pump Track and Skate Park

[John Teachout]

Good morning OVMTB families,

Below you will find an overview of planned additions to Naranja Park, located in Oro Valley.  While speaking with the Parks and Recreation Director, Ms. Kristy Diaz-Trahan, she asked me to provide the proposed rendition to our club members.  The salient point of this concept map is the proposed "pump track".  Because this will be going to the town council, there is a request for feedback regarding this concept ensuring cycle sports are represented in the park master plan.  

If you and your family support the idea of including a pump track at Naranja Park, please share your thoughts via email to the Oro Valley Parks and Recreations Director, at kdiaz-...@orovalleyaz.gov.  There is a narrow window for response.  Please have all comments submitted by Wednesday, April 6, 2022.

Please let me know if you have any questions.  

v/r,

John Teachout 

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Teachout, John <jtea...@orovalleyaz.gov>
Date: Mon, Apr 4, 2022 at 8:12 AM
Subject: FW: Pump Track and Skate Park
To: John E Teachout <jteach...@gmail.com>

From: Diaz-Trahan, Kristy <kdiaz-...@orovalleyaz.gov>

[Duncan Caldwell]

Good morning,

While I'm glad that there finally seems to be outreach from parks on a bike park pump track. Be aware that they already did the drawing and already hired a skate park designer, Pillar Design Studio, from Phoenix. How much "input" from the community will be taken into account is questionable. 

I've been engaged with Kristy, parks staff and even the Mayor and council members for over 5 years to be the squeaky wheel to keep a bike park in their minds. I've been to and presented at several Parks and Rec Advisory Board meetings (PRAB) and city council meetings. I've had multiple in person meetings with Kristy and her staff in those years. In that time I've contacted multiple bike park builders to understand costs and timelines and have passed all of this information on to her. I've contacted multiple other municipalities about their bike parks to learn about how they got built, who pushed for them, funding, etc. All this information has been passed on to Kristy. TORCA has received grants for the sole purpose of at least getting the ball rolling for a parks design. This free money and help was turned down.

I also GPS'd a track on the west side of the park with the idea of a easy 2ish mile loop that tied into the perimeter trail on the east. The idea being a easy trail for beginners to cut their teeth on before moving on or just a fun little loop close to home.. Also in mind would be a place for this team to be able to practice in a more central location. The mileage is small, but setting up a dirt crit style practice is fun and a killer work out. All this turned down. No let's table it and talk about the future, flatly turned down. 

I feel that Naranja Park could be the absolute best bike park in the southwest, if it weren't limited by the small thinking of OV parks. The park has the best views(maybe short of Sedona), infrastructure already in place, surrounded by neighborhoods, easy to access for tourism, places to stay for tourism and all year usability. No other bike parks in AZ offer all this. These are all things that have been discussed with parks at length. The area on the master plan is a token offering. 

I've attached a concept that I submitted to Kristy and was summarily rejected. If the concept looks familiar, it was done by the same person who designed Flagstaff's and Sedona's bike parks. You'll also notice it's in an area that has never utilized in any master plans going back 20 years. I know because I checked. This was a deliberate decision so as not to interfere with any flat field development in the future. It also provided multiple elevations for different skill levels to be accommodated. I brought Rob Bauer, former pro-BMXer, currently building miles of the AZT. He was stoked on the idea.

I understand compromises needs to made to accommodate users for the parks space, however there can't be compromise if the discussions never takes place. 

If anyone within this organization would like to chat more, I'm more than happy to. Feel free to call, text, email.

Thank you,

Duncan Caldwell

520-301-7378

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