CANTON — Local bike enthusiasts want a mountain bike playground at the wooded area along Lawton Road in an attempt to create an innovative, outdoor activity out of town property that has been unused for years.
But the proposal comes at a time when the town is working to increase its affordable housing inventory, and is located at a site that Planning and Zoning Commission members have tentatively discussed using specifically for potential affordable housing developments.
A Bike Pump and Skills Playground is proposed at 55 Lawton Road, a property that was meant to be used for soccer fields years ago, but nothing ever came to fruition.
Jan Tanner, co-owner of the 25-year-old local business Benidorm Bikes, who with other mountain bike enthusiasts pitched this idea to the PZC last week, said that the playground would finally make use of unused land while also bringing a unique feature and tourism attraction to town, as well as enhance Canton’s bike-friendly status.
"We have to work on trying to preserve land, use land in ways that keeps people engaged with it and wanting to be outdoors," Tanner said.
The property was identified in 2018 as a longstanding priority of the Parks and Recreation Commission and Department, according to the town’s Parks and Recreation Master Plan. "This particular site is one of the only town-owned sites that is conducive to active recreational development," according to the plan.
It will essentially be up to the Board of Selectmen to decide what to do with the Lawton Road property, and if it should be used for the bike playground or a potential affordable housing development, Tanner said.
At the Sept. 20 meeting, Tanner brought up the over 200 housing dwellings that have been approved in town recently, saying she hoped the PZC would support this site for the playground, and instead consider other vacant locations for housing developments.
"Canton is a gem of an area whether it's for recreational use, whether you're on the Farmington River, whether you're hiking on land trust properties, or you're on a bike path," she said. "My interests are for a community, accessible green space that provides different opportunities for the outdoors."
Some community members also sent emails to the PZC prior to the meeting expressing support for the proposal, including Canton resident Deborah Savino, who wrote in her email, "NO MORE APARTMENTS!!"
And with 75 percent wetlands, the land at 55 Lawton Road is worth preserving, Tanner said. So, a bike pump and skills playground would make sense in that spot, because they wouldn’t be clearing out trees or encroaching on the wetlands, but integrating the landscape into the playground, she said.
Pictures presented at the meeting showed bikers utilizing natural obstacles like boulders and logs as part of the course. The playground would use around three to four acres of a 17-acre property, and still leave open space for potential soccer fields, according to the conceptual site plan.
"We're just trying to preserve what's beautiful there and work with the terrain that is there," Tanner said.
But commission members brought up at the meeting how the need for affordable housing was something the town has been concerned about, and said they were cautious to fully support the use of this site as a bike playground when a housing development could also go here.
"I just feel like we’re already taking steps backward if we don’t at least make a case for it being affordable housing or partially affordable housing," said PZC member Elizabeth Vinick.
Despite her reluctancy, she and other commission members at the meeting did admit that something like this would be an asset to the town, but said it wasn't up to them to decide the use of the property.
Tanner listed multiple benefits of having a bike playground like this in Canton, including how its location is also easily accessible from the bike path, would serve as an activity for kids not involved in traditional sports teams or clubs and overall get the community out in nature.
Although it would be the first in the Farmington Valley region, this type of playground isn’t anything new to cyclists.
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"We have seen these skills parks, pump tracks, bike playgrounds come to fruition and build communities all across New England," said Mick Ferraro, regional director for New England Mountain Bike Association, at the Sept. 20 meeting. "It’s something that Connecticut is pining for and these local communities are really really in need of."
They are calling this project a "mountain bike playground," which essentially encompasses three different components: a pump track, a skills park, and a skills flow trail, said Deanna Smith at the meeting, who owns Pinnacle Trail Design and Construction.
A conceptual site plan shows that the project would consist of a beginner pump track of 0.3 acres, intermediate and advanced pump track of half an acre, skills zone of 1.25 acres, small community gathering area, skills track, and flow and skills trail. It would also feature a balance section or bridge and obstacle-based area.
"We hope that it will serve cyclists from all ages and abilities — down to 3-year-olds on strider bikes all the way up to the most seasoned, expert riders," Smith said at the meeting.
The trail structure will also be inclusive and adaptive-friendly to allow riders with physical limitations to enjoy mountain biking, Smith said.
The project is still in its earliest phases, but Tanner said she was looking forward to rallying supporters as they worked their way through town approvals, as they were not asking for town funding, but would use grants and fundraising to create this playground.
Tanner and other mountain bike enthusiasts plan to present the proposal to the Board of Selectmen on Oct. 25.