San Juan Island Trails Committee
Minutes June 10, 2009

Present
Connie Blackmer, Peter Dawson, David Dehlendorf, Susan Dehlendorf, Eileen Drath, Louise Dustrude, Rick Exstrom, David Harsh, Liz Illg, Don Jarrell, David Jenkins, Jill Johnson, Loren Johnson, Shannon Laws, Mike Lazzari, Kyle Loring, Cinda Pierce, Tracy Roberson, Maria Small, and Sally Thomsen.    

Notices

1. Next steering committee meeting: Wednesday, July 1, at 4:00 pm at the library. All are invited.
2. Next regular monthly meeting: Wednesday, July 8, at 5:00 pm in the community room at Whidbey Island Bank.

*Includes trails workshop on May 29 & 30.

Call to Order, Introductions, & Minutes
The regular meeting was called to order by Chair David Dehlendorf at 5:05 pm. All present introduced themselves, including first time attendee Shannon Laws. (Shannon joined us today after recently contacting our committee after she became lost at Mitchell Hill because of possible errors in the map on our website. We will be discussing this matter further at our July meeting.) Minutes from the previous meeting on May 13, 2009 were approved as circulated by email and posted on our website.

Trail Tale
Cinda Pierce presented an article about completion of a 0.5-mile link through Marymoor Park in Redmond on a 42-mile trail now stretching from Fremont in Seattle to Issaquah. The new link was completed at a cost of $2.9 million.

Nominees for Officers for 2009/2010
All officers’ terms expire on September 30. Cinda Pierce is in line to become Chair; Mike Lazarri has volunteered to be a candidate for the “at-large” position on the steering committee; and Jill Johnson is willing to be secretary. Rick Exstrom is considering the possibility of continuing to serve as treasurer. We still need candidates for the vice chair position, with the person occupying that position expected to be willing to serve as chair the following year. All present were asked to consider volunteering to serve and/or to nominate other candidates by contacting any member of the steering committee. 

Trail Construction and Training Workshop May 29 & 30
Based upon completed post-event evaluation questionnaires, almost all of the 26 who attended agreed that the session conducted by Steve Ulvi, Doug McCutchen and Nick Teague was GREAT! After an evening classroom session on Friday, the group did field work on Saturday in design, construction and maintenance, including construction of a short section of new trail. It was suggested that we should follow up next year with an intermediate course and make sure we provide opportunities to use the skills learned. Cinda will write “thank yous” to the organizers.

Report on Centennial Beach Court Trail Work Party June 6
The Beaverton Bay neighborhood between Tucker Ave. and the bay mustered 16-18 volunteers, including several Trails Committee members, to begin work on this steep trail linking the north end of Culver Ave. behind the community theatre and McDonald St.  Brian Windrope organized the effort. Thanks are due to Liz Illg who facilitated a $1,000 donation by the Town of Friday Harbor for materials for the trail. The trail is now approximately 75% complete. Brian will schedule a second work party soon to complete the trail.

Bicycle Initiative
Tracy Roberson reported on a survey of 70 folks interested in bike trail development.  Priorities emerged as follows: 1) Pipeline Trail; 2) Road shoulders; 3) a multi-use trail between town and Jackson’s Beach; 4) Bailer Hill and other dangerous roads. The bike group will hold its monthly meeting at 5 pm next Monday. Liz Illg noted that a new map of regional bike trails is being created by Ellen Barton, the Whatcom County bike coordinator, who is expected to attend the Monday meeting.

Valley Farm Trail (aka Pipeline Trail)
It will take at least six months for surveys to be completed by the town and for the preferred route of the new water pipeline to be identified. The town may prefer to have the pipeline under the existing road.

Public Works’ 6-Year Transportation Improvement Plan
County Council will hold a public hearing and vote on July 28. The Trails Committee submitted six possible projects; two are in the proposed TIP: Cattle Point Road Trail and a Golf Course link in an unused 60-foot right-of-way along Golf Course Rd. For 2010 we will work to include Pear Point and Phase 1 of the Valley Farm Trail.

Identify New Trail Projects Not Involving Public Works

1. UW Lab property – Try to make it a loop and/or link to Beach Court Trail. Dave Jenkins will follow up with Labs staff;
2. Cross Island Trail – This would link Roche Harbor Highlands and Three Corners Lake Rd. or Egglake Rd. via the Lank Bank property on Cady Mountain.
3. Update survey we did as part of our original Trail Plan –  See next item.

Updates to Trails Plan and Parks, Recreation and Preserved Lands Plan
The six-year 2005-2010 Park, Recreation and Preserved Lands Plan will soon be updated by the County. The group conducting the plan consists of County Parks, the Land Bank, and Public Works. Liz believes that Dona Wuthnow of County Parks is in the lead. It was agreed that we should try to have Trails Committee volunteers involved in the scoping process and to have the group include in its survey questions about trails that could be used to update our own trails plan as well. Tracy will talk to Dona and report back. Loren Johnson and Dave Jenkins volunteered to be the liaison between the Trails Committee and the group.

Cattle Point Road Trail Project
Cinda reported that Public Works is surveying Golf Course Rd. The Golf Course Rd. and Fairway Drive owners are meeting with Cinda to consider granting public access for the trail to their private road. By September there could be three sections needing work – maintenance on the existing trail segment near Old Crab Lane; construction on Louisa Nishitani’s property; and design of the Smith property segment. Progress is also happening on the environmental assessment of the National Park segment. As soon as the environmental assessment is completed by the NPS, we will begin work on the trail segment linking the Land Bank’s Frazier Homestead Preserve with the visitors’ center at American Camp. This segment must be completed by September 30 under the conditions of the NPS’ funding for the project.  

Park to Park Trail
David recently learned that Public Works may require that any sections of the trail built in its road right-of-way be ADA compliant, meaning at least 4’ wide and with a hardened surface that would support wheel chairs. (Hardened does not necessarily require a concrete or asphalt surface.) David expressed concerns about this requirement given the topography of the proposed trail and other factors. Work on the project will be suspended until PW makes a final decision, which may take several months.

Respectfully submitted,

Susan Dehlendorf, Acting Secretary