“Once these natural areas are lost, they are gone forever.”

Bloomington Park System Master Plan, 2021, p 45

EVEN THE CITY KNOWS THEY SHOULDN’T DEVELOP THE PARK!

Some background
on the desire to put bike trails in Central Park

Restore the Nine believes bicycle trails will be very damaging to the environment in the park. Adding bike trails will undermine the good done by the planned restoration work. Therefore we must address them and demonstrate the harm they will do.

Right now, there is no official plan to put in any kind of bike trail for the current Park Renewal Project; the City says they will make their decisions based on Community Engagement.

However, the City has long wanted to put a bike trail through Central Park from Moir to the Minnesota River.

They tried back in the late 1980s, after the “super storm” wiped out most of the bridges.

A bike trail through the park to the river has been in both the City’s Alternative Transportation Plan (2016) and Active Transportation Plan (2023).

The Park System Master Plan mentions wanting a biking corridor to the River, and also their support for the transportation plans above.

A bike trail was in the original Park Renewal plans presented to and approved by the City Council.

The City has been talking with the Bloomington Off-Road Cycling Alliance (BORCA) since at least 2020 about adding new mountain biking options to the park system.

Damage from widening the trails for a shared bicycle trail

One of the options under consideration is widening the current trails to allow bicycle traffic.

Restore the Nine is not against biking or bikes. Rather, we want to protect the natural environment in the park.

We believe many people probably don’t realize that adding bicycling trails to Central Park involves major construction and will radically alter the aesthetics of the trail in addition to doing a great deal of ecological damage.

Learn More

Pros and Cons of a Bike Trail

Dr. Brian Wolff, a conservation biologist, has put together this list of the pros and cons of a paved shared use bike/walking trail along Nine Mile Creek.

Learn More

A thought experiment

about when it’s gone, it’s gone forever

Imagine that this year, the City decides that to restore Central Park, they will remove all the trails and close the park to human activity. How would residents react? Likely, most would be very upset because something we had was being taken away from us.

Now, imagine instead that the City decides to build a bike trail through the park this year. In 35 years, would residents be fine with those trails being removed? Probably not—because something they had would be taken away from them.

In other words, if the City decides to add trails or other kinds of development as part of this sales-tax project, the City will never be able to take these new amenities away.

Unless we stop all development in the park, it will be eaten away incrementally every time the city decides to accommodate some popular recreational activity in the park.

That’s just one reason we say, “when it’s gone, it’s gone forever.”