Skyline Ridge Trail Issue to Come Before Assembly in May

UPDATE: APRIL 30

From Stan: Good news. The landowners have agreed to have their surveyors flag both the existing trail easement and the proposed reroute in the next few days. Then we can get out and see the reality on the ground.

UPDATES SINCE I POSTED THIS ON APRIL 24:

Corrections from Stan:

The replat was approved.

–It is the vacation of an existing subdivision trail easement and platting of a reroute next to Skyline Road that goes to the assembly.

–It has little to do with the official Skyline Ridge Trail. There are partial easements for the class B trail on the N side of Skyline Road but from the aerial photos it does not appear to be used. It has many driveway and road crossings.

–The existing trail in the subdivision does get a fair amount of use but since the lots were not developed and there was a the cleared GVEA easement users may have wandered from the platted trail easement.  But the applicant said that GVEA over-cleared the utility easement. When asked how many people use the trail the applicant said 8-10 per day.  Perhaps the easement became the defacto Skyline Ridge Trail? There was also illegal motorized use of the GVEA easement which has now been blocked.

And the Skyline Ridge Park Trail Users Facebook page post has a comment:

Yes, there is a trail there, it is a small footpath, my spouse has walked on it. We don’t feel super strong about it, we’d rather not lose the trail but there is an alternate place to walk, which is skyline drive.

Originally, I said I am not seeing any reason to oppose the easement change. I am altering that stand a bit. While I will not be opposing this move, I encourage neighbors to speak up if they are concerned. This trail is not of boroughwide significance, but it may be of neighborhood significance. It’s up to the neighbors to either fight moving the easement or to find a compromise solution.

ORIGINAL POST

Trails advocate Stan Justice has brought to light a trails issue that will be of concern to people in the Skyline Ridge area. (Note: As pointed out Stan’s original post called the subdivision “Sky Ridge,” but it actually is “Sky Summit Estates.” For more see Steve Bouta’s comments.)

Stan has this post on a couple of Facebook pages:

Here is a trail issue up on Skyline Ridge. A public trail in Sky Ridge Subdivision is proposed to be moved over next to Skyline Drive. The existing trail is shown in red and is adjacent to a GVEA power line. One problem with the new alignment (shown in green) is that it will cost some $1000 to get a surveyor to flag the new alignment before it can be cleared. Thus the end result might be that the trail ceases to exist.
The Platting Board initially rejected the reroute but on reconsideration approved it 4 to 2. Now it goes to the assembly on May 16 (unless it rescheduled). So if you care, please testify at the meeting or send a message to assembly members.

Note: Links to overview maps are farther down.

Stan has some legitimate concerns. The trail is classified as a “neighborhood trail” and is not listed in the Borough Trails Plan, so it doesn’t have protections set out in the plan. Because of that, the new trail easement might not get flagged and cleared, as Stan pointed out.

However, no one has yet commented who knows whether the affected trail easement includes an actual trail or how it might connect to other trails in the area. Even Stan doesn’t know.

It is not my neighborhood so I don’t know how the trails connect to other trails. Jack and Ian Hebert developed the subdivision and are trail advocates so added public trails so every lot had access to trails. Golden Heart Drive goes into the subdivision, Golden Heart is across from Calder Creek Road. There is a partial easement for Skyline Ridge Trail on the N side of Skyline Drive but not sure if it is used.

Background Info

To get a better overview of the area I did some digging and got this screenshot of the overall area from the borough’s GIS system. I also found this backup material from the April 17 Platting Board meeting. If the replat is approved, the property along Skyline Drive will be absorbed by the three lots to the south, hence the reason for the trail move request. Starting on page 7, you can see the applicant’s full reasoning for the wanting to move the trail.

SPEAK UP IF YOU CARE

Right now, I am not seeing any reason to oppose moving the trail easement. For one, I don’t know if the easement has an actual trail that is used. For another, I support a property owner’s right to have a trail easement moved to the property edge if it a reasonable alternative. If this request is granted, some potential wooded trail could be replaced with roadside trail, though not for a long stretch. And, again, we are talking about a theoretical trail, since no one has yet spoken up to say there is a real trail there. Losing a trail or trail easement is not good, but I would prefer to expend my energy on real trails rather than theoretical trails.

In response to my stand, Stan replied with this

The biggest concern is that the trail may cease to exist because no one pays the bill to survey the easement. The secondary concern is the impact on the trail experience from being near the road. There is also process concern – FNSB used the applicants submittal to determine that the reroute was “more beneficial” to the FNSB than the old trail. The trail users I have talked to think the reroute is less beneficial. When a trail easement is being vacated there should be a more robust public hearing process. See FNSB Code 17.32.030(E)(1) for trail easement vacation requirements. https://fnsb.borough.codes/FNSBC/17.32.030

If anyone has any knowledge of what is actually on the ground there, you can send me an email or you can comment on this post. For those who do want to comment to the Assembly at the May 16 meeting, see below.

HOW TO ADVOCATE

• ATTEND the meeting (virtually or in-person). A public hearing for the resolution will start at or after 7 p.m. An agenda for the meeting has not yet been set, but once it is it can be found HERE.
• Testify or contact Assembly members via email and/or phone before the meeting. Find contact information HERE.