Lake Frank Trail Continues to Simmer

The campaign to cancel a hiker/biker trail that connects the Lake Frank Trail to a spur of the Maryland portion of the Rock Creek Park Trail is picking up steam. Here's one letter to the editor of the Gazette on the issue.

In attempt to mitigate some of the damage done by the InterCounty Connector, state funds were going to be used to remove pavement from a road and two parking lots on the east side of Lake Frank. The road and parking lots have not been used in more than 35 years.

Trees were then going to be planted where the asphalt had been. But the [Maryland National Capital Park and Planning Commission] hijacked the money and diverted it to a construction project that will cut down trees in the park.

Now the money that was going to be used for environmental mitigation is going to be used to extend the Rock Creek bike path by a couple of hundred yards. More than $2 million that should have been spent on environmental mitigation is gone. Worse, the replacement project will exacerbate the damage done by the ICC. This is called adding insult to injury.

John Mathwin, Rockville

One quick correction is that the money is coming from Community Stewardship money, not Environmental Mitigation funds, so it is less objectionable in that light, I think.  John Mathwin also wrote a letter to the Post on the same subject. You can read more about the trail here. The new letter includes the new strategy which is to get the money re-re-directed back to the parking lot removal. There is more on the debate here. Jack Cochrane of MoBike adds more context to the debate:

We need bicyclists to start sending letters on this issue! When it became undeniably clear that the community-demanded trail option would be much more expensive and environmentally damaging than the county-supported option, they switched to talking almost entirely about removal of the abandoned parking lots. This is very disingenuous but strategically advantageous. They are furthermore saying that they weren't informed of the decision by the county & state to build a trail instead of remove the parking lots. (Whether they were well notified remains a question). This makes undoing an already made decision appear more legitimate. They are getting ever wider community and politician support. Of course removing the lots will result in making the trail project much more difficult to fund and then they will have more time to fight it tooth and nail.

Multiple letters to the editor opposing the trail have been appearing since March, some characterizing the trail as a useless facility that merely adds pavement. In fact the trail is the first segment of the planned North Olney Trail that will connect the Rock Creek Trail to Olney.

Comments

[CyclingFool]

NIMBY... those people don't give two hoots about the "environmental impact". If they were so passionate about the environment, they wouldn't live so far out in suburban sprawl. NIMBYites- what do you think was in your yard before it was covered in grass and a house? My guess: trees. Or at least productive farmland that provided fresh local crops. Either way, it was better than a subdivision. Just a thought.

[Bicycles are not WMDs]

This park has a history of the locals attempting to limit access to the lake.

It is very much a NIMBY issue. They keep jumping around on there reasons to stop the trail, although they claim to not be against the trail, they just propose unreasonable alternate routes fromt he trail. Which of course cut through undisturbed forested area, unlike 75% of the Park staff prefered route.

[Drew C.]

This is the first I've heard about a future North Olney Trail. Can Jack or someone in the know describe the path it would take? I've ridden between Rockville and Olney, and major detours are required to cross Rock Creek because Norbeck Road is not bike-friendly in that area.

If people saw the Lake Frank connector as part of a larger network of biking trails, they might be more receptive to it. Without that larger context, it's sort of a connector to nowhere, because most of the trails around Lake Frank are currently hiker-only.

[Joe]

This trail is one of the only paved trails in the Upper Rock Creek Trail Corridor Plan. It will run from the Rock Creek trail (just after passing under 28). From there it will head North along the wide trail, which is also a sewer line access road (that's why it is so wide). Cross Muncaster road at grade and then connect upto the trail along Emory road which will also connect the ICC trail. Right now the only section being dealt with is the connection from rock Creek Trail to the Lake Frank trail.

The plan can be found here and this short section in question is on page 22.

http://www.montgomeryparks.org/PPSD/ParkTrails/trail_planning/upper_rockcreek/URCreek_index.shtm

[concerned hiker/runner/cyclist]

I am not a Manor Lake resident, but I live near these trails and have been using them regularly for many years. I am a hiker, runner and cyclist.

Both of the spots proposed as connectors between Rock Creek and Lake Frank are already foot paths. The one is a rather steep hill that the average joe is too lazy to climb. The other most people just don't realize is there.

Since biking in most of Lake Frank is prohibited, why not wait to build this connector when and if the trail to Olney becomes a reality?

Seems like a waste to me...and likely to bring moutain bikers to the Lake Frank footpaths that they don't belong on.

I'd much rather see those old parking lots ripped up and trees planted.