Lake Forest Park, a town just north of Seattle, has been informed that it can't block needed improvements to the popular Burke-Gilman bike trail.
The Central Puget Sound Growth Management Hearings Board, siding with the Cascade Bicycle Club, ruled this week that the bike trail is “an essential regional public facility” and Lake Forest Park can't pass a law (Ordinance 951) that would block improvements on it.
This is great news for the more than 1,000 cyclists who daily use the trail that runs from the Ballard Locks on Puget Sound to the Sammamish Trail in Redmond, some 27 miles away. The county plans to widen the trail to 18 feet, from its present 10 feet, to make it safer for cyclists and pedestrians.
The section through Lake Forest Park is one of the unsafest, due to the narrow, twisty path, blacktop broken by tree roots, and frequent driveways and access roads that cross it.
Lake Forest Park had dealt with the problem of street and driveway intersections by posting stop signs on the trail — the main thoroughfare — and not the side streets. The ruling may lead to removal of those stop signs too, reported the Seattle P-I (“Bicycle trail wins in Lake Forest Park”).
Several city officials hinted to the P-I that the fight is not over, as Lake Forest Park may appeal the hearing board's decision.
A Cascade Bicycle Club press release announced the board's decision:
“During the Board hearing in June, Cascade Bicycle Club asserted that Ord. 951 violated the state Growth Management Act. Cascade argued that the six Lake Forest Park City Council members who voted in January 2007 for Ord. 951 turned their backs on federal, state and county trail development standards, and disregarded three professional engineering reports that explained how to improve the corridor. In effect, the six council members prioritized a few private driveways over the rights and safety of thousands of public trail users. ….
'The stakes were huge. Today, we closed the door on cities that want to apply unsafe or non-standard conditions to regional trails, thereby impeding the development and maintenance of trails according to accepted, uniform standards,” said David Hiller, Cascade Bicycle Club Advocacy Director. “This case sets a precedent for all future trail development and reconstruction.”
County Executive Ron Sims, who has discovered the joys of cycling, chimed in at the Seattle Times:
“It's a big decision for us. For all intents and purposes, the trail debates have ended. They are public facilities. That's great. These are transportation facilities, as well.”
Let's hope that Lake Forest Park decides to abide by the hearing board and go ahead and allow King County to improve the trail that passes through its town. It will benefit eveyone, including their own residents who use it.
See also: “Bike group appeals decision to support driveways over bike trail”
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