As a result of this meeting a decision was made to have organized trail work days every Saturday at 9 am until the work is completed.  Free one-year memberships will be given for people who want a free one-year membership in exchange for trail work.

The concept is to restore the trail to it's original configuration except where either impossible or where it can be improved.  Trail work is to be done 'from the middle out'.  This will mean that when the trail appears open, it actually will be rideable.  This will also discouraged the insidious, destructive and ignorant ATV riders from entering the trail.  The old trail will be tagged, then trimmed.  Much of it is in good shape, but there are trees down due to summer storms.  The trailhead and parking lot have been altered by North St. Lucie Water Management District who are doing improvements to 10 Mile Creek.  The entrance and Big Dipper will have to be re-worked. Areas east of 95 and the area called 'Anthony's Bridge' trail have not been cleared since last September.

Please do not cut new trail if you are in the area. Only follow existing, tagged trail. 

Regarding purchase and clearing information, here are the excerpts for our communications with the county:

As of tonight, Tuesday June 21st, I am informed that St. Lucie County will go ahead and submit their bid for the land under the easement, and see what happens.

If the church sells the land to a private user, it may not mean the end of the line for our effort to preserve the trail.  Private owners can still subdivide and sell, place the land in trust, donate or lease the land ... there are many options left...but it remains to be seen what will transpire.  It certainly has not been easy or fun. 

• The county is poised to purchase the land. 
• They have the funds.
• They are frustrated.
• St. Andrews is ready to sell the land.
• They are frustrated
• South Florida Water Management District is sitting on their hands doing nothing but holding up the deal. They have been asked to simply state exactly what the necessary storm water and drainage certifications need to happen. It appears that no one there is willing to make a decision, or perhaps no one has power to make a decision, or they keep forgetting, or every time a deal comes close, they throw 8 more mandates out...

Airborne requests that everyone and anyone who has any sort of input to SFWMD let them know that the public is focused on their inaction, and that we are frustrated by their lack of attention. Their is no watchdog for SFWMD, and as such, neither the county nor St Andrews can compel them into action. Fortunately, their is a meeting between the county and SFWMD today. Perhaps then the matter can be resolved.  Judge Barnes himself is attributed with saying ' will this happen while I am still able to ride a bike?'

There was to be a meeting February 7, 2005 between St. Lucie County officials and SFWMD to try and get some clarification from anyone at SFWMD who could both answer the questions and see it through. Airborne, as a club will politely retract any statements negative or derogatory regarding SFWMD as soon as there is reason to do so.  In the meantime please, as citizens. feel free to call Fred Davis, Don Medellin, or Scott McNabb (especially Scott McNabb who has been negative and combative from the start), and let them know you are a local citizen who is concerned about the district's inaction, not just in this short term, but over the course of the 20 years that they have had an opportunity to alleviate their concerns over storm water management on the easement area at Crossroads Industrial Park.

Present were:

Airborne wanted to be updated about these issues: 

1. What has been done regarding the county’s lease or purchase of the trail land?
2. What has been done regarding amending the conservation easement to include passive recreation (limited to bikers and hikers and excluding motorized recreational vehicles)
3. Would there be any benefit to the involved parties if Airborne had an attorney write the easement amendment?  Would it speed up the interim process?
4. Who are our day-to-day contacts at the county and at the school?
5. What does the county want us to report back to local cyclists about issues regarding trespassing laws and police enforcement, and how do we handle any arrests?
6. Could an interim agreement be reached where either anyone with a bicycle or a membership card from a local bike club (who would be presumed to have signed a liability waiver) be admitted to the trail, and trespassing be enforced on the ATV’s.

First, Randy Stephenson addressed the meeting.  St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church School owns the parcel of land.  It is their intention to have land re-zoned from light industrial to whatever they need to build their school.  It is unlikely that this will happen, because the two uses are incompatible. However, what will ultimately happen is unknown.

The county finally received a survey of the land necessary for assessment and any other arrangement between the county and school.  This took many months instead of a few weeks. This essentially stopped the process we initiated last March until just a few weeks ago, and after the county received this survey, talks began again. 

At this time the trespassing signs were placed primarily because of the Church’s concern over user injuries and liability.  They are concerned about the increased use of the trail, especially by ATV’s.  They are concerned that our website essentially ‘promotes’ the trail being used. (It is not our intention to promote the trail - only to provide accurate information about conditions and issues, and to provide a central place for our local MTB community to share their ideas.)

The county is attempting to create an interim agreement where they can lease the conservation easement and provide liability insurance the county already owns, and then as a lease payment, whatever extra liability premium the school needs to protect themselves in the event of a suit.  This is necessary in the interim under a lease arrangement because the school still would own the land and have exposure, and secondly because the county liability is limited to $100,000 maximum per incident and $200, 000 aggregate in claims.  So, the lease expense would be for the amount of the indemnity insurance.  If a lease like this was created, then and only then would the easement agreement be modified. 

However, as of the day of this meeting SFWMD had gotten back into the fray on this matter and have discovered yet another point that will delay everything.  SFWMD has discovered that the storm water management improvements required were never certified.  The land, technically, should not have been sold until this was done. Reynolds Metals Development Corp. is in a breech of agreement with SFWMD at the present time because of the failure to certify the storm water management improvements. This must be done first. SFWMD has sent Reynolds a notice of failure to comply and intent to enforce.  SFWMD further stated they need to see if our bike trail impedes the flow of storm water through the area.  Reynolds has to finalize this storm water management system before anything else can be done. 

So, in a nutshell, that’s where it’s at.  Two county officials are going to be working on this to help move Reynolds and SFWMD to closure on the storm water issue. (It is my suspicion that the improvements have been made and are in place, but the documentation may be missing). 

Unfortunately none of the church officials were present at the meeting.  (We would have liked to have state to them our concern for their well-being, and for our love of this trail and land.  We would have liked to state to them that our website is only a ‘newspaper’ for the trail, but more over a place for the Airborne club to post useful information.  Lastly we would have stated that we grew out of a need locally to address the land use issues and to help provide accurate information to the community – I made this statement to the meeting anyway). 

Cliff Barnes spoke briefly about the Crossroads Trail being a top priority for the county, and kept the meeting moving along. 

David Kelly spoke about everyone at the county understanding and empathizing with our concerns, especially with respect to the ATV’ers continuing to trespass the area and knowing about how devastating those throttle based tire tracks can destroy a trail.  He also stated that they are doing everything in their power to get moving on the project now that the survey is present and now that the players are known, are talking and the issues defined.

It is the county’s intent to:

1. Create an interim lease agreement and fund the school’s liability component
2. Follow up with (Christopher Grace / Randy Reynolds) and have Reynolds get SFWMD to finalize the storm water mgmt. This must be done first.

Dan McIntyre – County attorney spoke.  The school wants to lease or sell the entire parcel, not just the easement.  The county can indemnify the school in the case of the interim lease only for non-motorized recreation and only for users with ‘permission’. (At this point we discussed the model of the RidgeRiders Lakeland trail the T.O.E. and how the area is gated and locked.  Permission to ride can be obtained only through the RidgeRiders who will give a rider a guided tour, but subsequently they will have to join the organization, which includes signing the liability waiver and making the payment, which helps defray the cost of the insurance.  In our case this would provide several benefits – reduced traffic on the trail = good for conservation, and awareness and control over who is legally using the trail + waivers used).  He stated further that the conservation easement is a tricky thing to assign a dollar value to – for us riders, the land has value, but for a developer, the land has negative value – they cannot use the land to build and further must maintain the easement.  So, the deal on the land is in the process of negotiation for price, and is far from a done deal. 

At this point Cliff and David jumped back in and reiterated:  this is a top priority for us and we intend to get the deal done. 

Karen Butcher described in detail about future parks and trails especially along 10 mile Creek.  The next 10 years we should see an increase in trail opportunities present themselves to local cyclists.  She also mentioned that all ESL’s (environmentally sensitive lands) are open to bicycles.  She is going to be getting us a comprehensive list of these. 

In Summary to our questions: 

1. What has been done regarding the county’s lease or purchase of the trail land?

Discussions only.

2. What has been done regarding amending the conservation easement to include passive recreation (limited to bikers and hikers and excluding motorized recreational vehicles)

Nothing.

3. Would there be any benefit to the involved parties if Airborne had an attorney write the easement amendment?  Would it speed up the interim process?

Not yet.  First Reynolds has to complete the storm water management plane and have SFWMD certify it.

4. Who are our day-to-day contacts at the county and at the school?

At the county, Karen Butcher handles bicycle related issues.

We don’t yet have a school contact.

5. What does the county want us to report back to local cyclists about issues regarding trespassing laws and police enforcement, and how do we handle any arrests?

“The county does not own the land.  The landowner is enforcing No Trespassing’. You are advised to abide by the laws.”

6. Could an interim agreement be reached where either anyone with a bicycle or a membership card from a local bike club (who would be presumed to have signed a liability waiver) is admitted to the trail, and trespassing be enforced on the ATV’s.

Yes.  They are working on this and the permanent arrangement which includes movement of our existing trailhead east to off Jenkins Rd. and which allows for the creation of the ‘Bay of Pigs’ trail connecting the old trail with the new trailhead. It’s definitely not a done deal.  Everyone is working on it now that the survey is done and all the issues are known.  It’s a priority for the county, but at the same time they need to establish a fair price for the land. 

Overall there was a sense of interest and urgency on the part of both cyclists and the county, but also an emphasis on making sure all the issues are properly addressed.  While it is obvious the trail is closed, no one is really able to say for how long – only that it is temporary, and however long that lasts. 

Sincerely 
Bill Klausmeyer
A.M.B.C. Secretary