Southern California Message Boards

(From the SHARE Update:)

Montage wants to play through…YOUR parkland!

In case you’ve been under a rock, on vacation or out in the woods on your bike and haven’t heard, deals are purportedly being made by the County of Orange and Montage to lease them open space in Aliso Woods.

Did that sink in?

The LA Times ran a story a week or so ago explaining the Montage’s purchase of Aliso Creek Golf Course and their desire of expansion into a full 18 holes (currently it is a pitch and putt with only 9 holes). The expansion would be in the Aliso Creek watershed and in Aliso Woods Regional Park open space. How much open space is anyone’s guess as neither the County of Orange nor Montage are letting any information out. However, Supervisor Wilson does admit to meetings with the Montage and this “concept” being entertained (some would speculate that this is being discussed much more concretely than pure entertainment).

The biggest problem right now is that everyone knows that the Montage is very serious about the expansion, otherwise they wouldn’t have purchased the pitch and putt in the first place. However, the key is no information is flowing to anyone as fast as the money seems to be.

So SHARE and others are starting to ask questions.

This is a meeting you NEED to attend. On Monday, November 15th the Trails Advisory Committee meeting will be held at Santiago Oaks Regional Park. The meeting starts at 7PM and we are going to ride in from Albertson’s on Jamboree and Chapman. We’ll meet at 6PM and be on the road at 6:15PM. Be on time and ready to ride AT 6:15PM. Pace will be leisurely and we will be on the street the entire way, so bring a headlight and taillight. This will happen RAIN OR SHINE.

Two people should attend the meeting from the county ranks that might have first hand information on this proposed project. While I don’t expect them to be forthcoming with information of any sort, it is important that they see a room flooded with riders so they know the level of our concern.

The questions we can ask at the meeting MUST BE trail related. Please don’t come to the meeting expecting a map of the Montage or to verbally spar with a public official. We need to be polite, courteous and well spoken. However, it would be entirely inline to ask questions like:

“Why would the county be so anxious for a paved path to the beach that it would be willing to give up our valuable open space?” (Trail related)

OR

“With the proposed expansion how many trails are we slated to lose?” (Trail related)

OR

“Why would the county possibly give away current and future trails for a paved bike path and golf course?” (Again, trail related)

I’m sure you get the drift. The most important part is that mountain bikers are at this meeting in droves. If you aren’t on your bike, bring something that identifies you as a rider (event t-shirt, IMBA hat or something). Again, we want a room full of cyclists.

If you have any questions feel free to drop a line to info@sharemtb.com and I’ll do my best to answer it. Otherwise, I will see you on Monday night.

A very important issue and a very easy way to get involved.

Simply meet up, ride your bike to a meeting and show a presence to the County.