Developers suck. Developers suck big-time. Here is the situation that we are currently facing with a
section of the Greenbelt:
A developer wants to put 9 houses on the area we now ride south of the LIRR tracks. If this goes as
planned we will lose the part of the trail known as railroad hill. The developer's plans are to cut
down all the trees and excavate the entire hill to build a court for 9 luxury homes. He will
supposedly be building a retaining wall to hold back the rest of the hill. The trail runs right
through where he plans to build. We are currently working on stopping the project or to come to an
easement. The developer has threatened to booby trap his portion of land where the trail runs
through in order to prevent mountainbikers and hikers from going on his property. This is
unacceptable. This chunk of property was purchased by the developer from the state many years ago,
but it was never developed and the trail existed on the land prior to the sale.
A few of us decided to get together for a survey ride of the chunk of land. Jim, myself, Mike,
Frankie Froglegs and Dennis D-Mac met up at the Bethpage parking lot and rode from Bethpage
straight up to the Greenbelt, about an 18 or so mile ride. This was the first time Jim and myself
rode the Greenbelt in a couple of months. We noticed that it had been carved up from a bad winter
and the ATV'rs. Frankie led most of the ride, the pace was quick, as usual. Mike invited us into a
section of the Greenbelt known as West Hills, where he has been working on cutting in a new trail,
only about 1/4 of it was complete but he showed us what he planned to do with it. For now, it was
a secret...
We eventually arrived at the section of hill. It had all been marked off and tagged to show to
dividing sections of land. We got to work surveying the land and figuring out possible re-routes of
the trail. This is going to be a big project, the developer didn't leave us with comforting thoughts
of the amount of work that will be involved in fixing up the mess that he will be creating. Mike
brought along his altimeter/measuring device to check out he sloping of the land. According to IMBA,
10% is the optimal grade that a trail should run in order to prevent erosion of the slope. The
problem with this hill is that it was running 20% and up...what to do, what to do...no decisions
were made, afterall, this was only a survey ride. While we were standing around and discussing,
looked up to see a red tailed hawk in flight. It came down and landed on a tree branch right above
us. I believe it was an omen from the trail gods. The hawk came down onto the ground and landed
several feet from us. We all stood in awe and watched its beautiful presence. It stood there
watching us for a few minutes then took to flight.
The guys decided to check another little section of trail while I waited by the bikes. I heard a
knock, knock, knock, knock, on a tree nearby. I looked up to find where the knocking was coming
from...it was a woodpecker doing its job in a tree that I was standing beside. I watched it for the
longest time while I waited for the guys to make their return. I had never seen a woodpecker in
action. I stood there in awe. I believe this was another omen from the trail gods. The guys returned
and noticed me looking up at the tree, mesmerized. They all looked up to see what I was looking at.
We all stood, mesmerized, watching the woodpecker doing its job...
Our surveying came to an end. We rode back to the cars. We only made some preliminary decisions as
to what approach to take. We will be requiring the help of many hands and IMBA in order to resolve
the problem we now face.
I will continue to post updates about this situation...
- CA-G
Can-Am Girls Kick Ass!