Carole Rooney
Free Press
A group of 43 youths, young adults and a few parents gathered in council chambers on May 12 to hear the fate of the mountain bike trails built in Centennial Park without permits last year.
District of 100 Mile House Mayor Mitch Campsall began by giving them kudos for their hard work and dedication, and listened to their presentation.
However, he also gave these young people an earful on wrongfully building trails on District property without permission.
"It's pretty impressive for you do have done that [steep trail]. But there are some issues."
The presentation was made by Dalton Anderson and Clayton Chamberlain, who said the location is "perfect."
They explained better local bike trails were needed to offer more challenging slopes with firmer soil and access to water for maintaining them.
"Mountain biking is my life," said Chamberlain. "I go the jumps 58-plus hours a week ... it's my heart and soul, and I've been training for competitions. I've competed all across North America."
Other municipalities have installed mountain bike parks, yet youth build this one themselves at their own cost and labour, and would also maintain them if they had more money, he explained.
"It makes more things for youth to do so we're not out there partying, causing trouble, crime, all that stuff, right?
"You guys gave us signs, so there is not the liability there."
Chamberlain added the jumps were built mainly from existing windfall logs, and they are attracting tourists from as far as Prince George to ride these new trails.
"They come here for a couple days at a time. We piped a generator up there one time, so we had some music to listen to – we just had a blast up there. It's awesome."
He then asked what was council's view of the jumps.
"It is not the jumps, it is how it got there," replied Campsall. "It's the fact that you put something in a park without permission. That's an issue that we have to deal with, and a concern....
"The liability was all on us so you put us in a very serious situation. If somebody got hurt, or broke their neck, or did anything up there, we would have been liable."
Since the District installed warning signs about the risks after hearing about the trails last fall, some of that liability now lies on those who built them, or their parents, the mayor said, adding the group must now seek liability insurance.
Campsall added he and others from council and staff spent 90 minutes looking at the trails and jumps, and were surprised to find them both impressive and unlikely to cause concerns for nearby Bridge Creek.
"I looked at them and I thought, wow. How you guys built them, I don't know, but obviously you are good at what you do. It took major dedication to get that [done] where it was ... it's well done, and well designed."
However, the group is to cease any and all trail work until any resolution is made by council otherwise, he said.
"The fact is there were a lot of wrong things done. I'm not saying not good things, but wrong, the way it was done, and that becomes a big issue for us.
"Where we go from here is going to be different, and it has got to be done in the right way."
Meanwhile, staff will work with them to look for solutions to keep the trails if possible, he said, but made no promises as to whether or not this was feasible.
"There are lots of issues to be dealt with. We are not turning our backs on you guys, [but] it's not going to be simple and easy."