Eureka Springs City Council had requested a detailed report on the Lake Leatherwood Trails Project, and at Monday evening’s meeting Parks Director Justin Huss said the entire area under construction for downhill bike trails has been temporarily closed to the public and the Downhill Committee is reconsidering options for the final three routes. Geologist Jim Helwig had pointed out a rock formation of geologic consequence had been in the trail design as a possible bike jump, so changes in the design were underway.
Huss also said wood from trees taken down was milled to use in a bridge.
He and Fire Chief Nick Samac toured the area of the new trails looking for ideal evacuation routes and other issues related to safety because, as Huss stated, “People will get hurt on those trails.” He noted downhill cycling is especially challenging, but people get hurt on hiking trails.
Huss said winter rains put trail engineering to the test, and things are holding up. He elaborated on how certain designs in the trail building handle runoff differently, but to date, water is going where it was designed to go.
He announced Parks had joined with other Northwest Arkansas communities in applying jointly to become designated as an International Mountain Biking Association Ride Center, a designation given to only the best mountain biking communities.
Huss distributed an article that claimed bicycling has provided $137 million in economic benefit to Northwest Arkansas, and Eureka Springs will see some of the impact. He invited aldermen to tour the new work being done at LLCP, and offered to show them around.
Alderman Kristi Kendrick said she had a lot of questions, starting with the recent land purchase at the top of the hill. Was it surveyed? What part would be deeded to the city? Kendrick noted Huss was entering into regional agreements, but council has yet to even address legalities.
She said the agreement seemed wishy-washy because she had not seen terms in the contract.
“And you did not ask for it,” Huss pointed out. “Communication is a two-way street.”
Kendrick asked about a shuttle system back to the top of the hill, and Huss explained he would prefer to contract with someone to run that service rather than hire staff to do it. He explained there would still be hiking trails in that area, and in general he preferred multi-use trails, but expected hiking only trails in the park. He also predicted the boom in cycling will spur a boom in hiking, and he’s looking at creating new staff positions.
He passed around copies of a chart showing LLCP made $2343.60 from January to March in 2013 in the bait shop, boat rentals, donations and lodging, and this year during the same months it brought in $26,946.57. Lodging was almost 10 times the 2013 total.
Huss explained there will be another ecological assessment of LLCP by botanist Theo Witsell later this month, twice more later this year, and for years to come. Witsell’s visits cost about $3500 each.
Kendrick asked about redrawing city limits to include the new property once it is donated so the city could reap sales tax from businesses there. She said she wanted the public to have answers and was glad information would now be out there.