EDITORIAL: A good first step on Valley trail policy EDITORIAL: A good first step on Valley trail policy (March 14, 2001)

The decision by the Portola Valley Town Council to permit bicyclists to use some segments of the town's extensive trail system is a step in the right direction. It is time to recognize that the trails have been shared by all users for years, and except in narrow and steep sections, should continue to be open to everyone.

For now, most of the town's nearly 40 miles of trails are limited to horses and hikers. Only so-called "destination" trails, eight in all, will be left unposted and available to bicyclists.

This decision came after parents and kids told the Trails Committee that they have come to depend on these safe trails to get to school and other locations in the community. Many said they disliked sending young children to ride in bike lanes next to speeding vehicles.

The restrictions on bicycles were recommended by the Trails Committee several years ago when the town decided to purchase markers for all the trails. Private citizens chipped in as well, purchasing about 80 of the 130 markers.

When the decision was made to mark the trails, the committee recommended that all trails be made off limits to bikes. When residents realized that bicycles were not welcome on large portions of the trail system, many protested at a meeting of the Trails Committee last month. Many residents said they had been riding their bikes on the trails for years without incident.

Work ensued on a compromise, which evolved into the latest policy to open certain, more heavily used, mostly in-town trails to cyclists, while continuing to restrict such use on many others.

This "split decision" is a good first step, but more could be done. Given the clean safety record of unrestricted trail use by bikes, horses and hikers before the rules were adopted, we believe there are additional trails that could be opened to all.

The community is understandably concerned about liability if someone were injured in a trail accident, but the same liability would apply for incidents at playing fields or other venues in the town.

Portola Valley residents are blessed with an abundance of trails, some of which parallel main roadways and others that cut across country. The trails were built at a time when many Valley residents owned horses, and bicycling was not an off-road sport.

Times have changed. Today, even young school children ride sophisticated bikes that can easily venture off the road and onto dirt trails. And, while there are several hundred horses in the Valley, accident statistics indicate that horses, bicyclists and hikers have safely coexisted for quite a few years.

Within the next several months, the Trails Committee and Planning Commission will be considering revisions to the trails element of the town's general plan. With the general plan changes, perhaps Portola Valley can adopt a policy that would open all but the steepest, and most remote, trails in the Valley to everyone.