Sixteen-year-old Nikolas Clarke caught the bike-jump bug about eight years ago when he went to a forested area near Hartman Park and saw the bigger teenage kids doing aerial stunts off dirt mounds.

Still biking around on 16-inch wheels, Clarke wasn’t big enough back then to try the jumps, but his passion was sparked.

“Guys were down here throwing down big tricks,” said Clarke, an Education Hill resident and Redmond High School student. “It made me want to progress to that level.”

For the past eight years, Clarke has been a steady user of the city-owned utility property, where he and other neighborhood kids have built dirt ramps and jumps for recreational use.

Now Clarke is the co-chair of the citizen steering committee for plans to expand the bike-jump trails, enhance the landscape and turn the wooded parcel of land into a sanctioned city park known as Redmond Bike Park.

The park would sit on two acres of a seven-acre wooded property. Designs include building five dirt-jump style trails for BMX and mountain bike riders. The trails will feature jumps for all levels, from beginners to advanced. In addition, a multi-use trail will be built around the perimeter of the park.

“As a whole, the community likes it,” Clarke said of the jump trails. “Everyday, you see someone new come here. It’s good and it can only get better.”

But some nearby residents disagree, voicing many concerns, including crime, parking, safety and noise.

The most vocal opponent, Harold Zeitz (left) is trying to put the brakes on plans for the new bike-jumping park, which will border the southwest end of Hartman Park, near the Church of Latter Day Saints.

He said he plans to appeal the site plan entitlement to the city’s hearing examiner before the appeal period ends on Tuesday.

“There is a substantial group of folks concerned about this,” said Zeitz, who lives on 174th Court Northeast. “I’m open to negotiate with the city, but if they won’t, I will appeal.”

There is a website, that went live a few days ago, asking residents to voice their opinions against the bike park at the July 21 city council meeting and to join the appeal effort.

Zeitz said if he is overruled by the hearing examiner he will appeal to the city council and if that doesn’t work, he said he will appeal to King County Superior Court.

WORK PARTY CANCELLED

The city planned to kick off construction of the new park this weekend with a two-day community work party, but was forced to cancel because the city is anticipating an appeal, according to Carolyn Hope, a senior park planner for the City of Redmond.

Appeals to the hearing examiner and city council could push the start of construction back 2-4 months, Hope said.

If there is no appeal, Hope said the project could start construction next month.

Hope said the city held seven community meetings and sent out three mailers to the surrounding neighborhood about plans for the new bike park, so news of a possible appeal is not what the city expected at this stage in the planning, according to Hope.

City Council approved the site location in early 2010 and the city’s Technical Committee approved of the design plans earlier this month, paving the way for a summer construction schedule.

But plans could change if an appeal is made.

CITY-COMMUNITY EFFORT

Plans for the Redmond Bike Park began when Mayor John Marchione instructed staff to look into ways to legitimizing the dirt jumps in the wooded area into a city park, Hope said.

The dirt jumps near Hartman Park have been around for about 20 years, during which time residents would construct dirt ramps and jumps on the parcel, only to have the city come bulldoze them down when they got too high or dangerous.

So rather than continue the ongoing battle with bike jumpers, the city reached out to the community in 2009 for a solution. And the overwhelming response at that time was that the community wanted to build a sanctioned bike jump park, according to Doug Schmitt (left), a father of two who is the co-chair of the citizen steering committee, along with Clarke.

“During the first meeting, 75 people met at the park and walked through it and the general consensus was that we like having it here because we know where our kids are at the what they are doing.

“This is very constructive, good entertainment for the kids,” he added.

The city continued to meet with the community and hired a consultant, Hilride Progression Development Group, to design a new and improved bike jump park, which would be built by community members and bike jumpers.

The city made every effort to plan and build the park on a minimal budget, Hope said.The total budget for the project is $115,000, with construction costs at a low price of $35,000 because the community would be providing the labor.

“The park will be built by volunteers, but they have to achieve the standard of design so we will be out here monitoring to make sure they are built to the spec we need to meet,” Hope said, adding that the community volunteer effort will give neighbors “a sense of ownership.”

COMMUNITY CONCERNS

Zeitz points out by the city is only “legitimizing illegal behavior” at the park by not only allowing the bike jumps, but planning for an expansion.

He also feels the park is too large in scope for the nearby neighborhood.

“It’s gonna be massive,” he said.

Zeitz said he isn’t against bike jumpers and thinks it’s a good recreational activity for the neighborhood kids, but he predicts once the Redmond Bike Park is built, it will attract people from outside the neighborhood and with it bring more noise, traffic and crime.

Hope said it is not the city’s intention to build a regional park.

“We are designing it for the people that live in this neighborhood,” she said.

Zeitz also pointed out that parking will be issue as users will be enticed to park on neighborhood streets because of limited parking at Hartman Park.

Many people park in a gravel area near the entrance to the parcel of land, which is illegal, Zeitz pointed out.

Plans for the Redmond Bike Park call for landscaping enhancements and no parking signs to deter people from parking there, Hope said. The nearby church, which has a large parking lot near Hartman Park, has agreed with the city to let people use their lot as an overflow parking area “as long as the church is not having a service or large function,” Hope said.

As far as the expanded park creating more crime in the area, Hope said by activating it as an official park, there will be more of police presence and scrutiny of the park.

“I think it will be less likely for that kind of (illegal) activity here because there is always going to be traffic. By engaging the community, they are going to want to protect the asset they just built.”

Clarke agreed, saying, “We are just here to have fun. It will be good that the police will coming in. With more people around, it will drive out the bad presence. I don’t see anything bad coming out of this.”

Clarke, who admits the possibility of a late-hour appeal is “irritating,” said he has “full confidence in the city and our community that this is going to go through.”

As for Zeitz, he just wants to keep his neighborhood quiet, clean and safe.

His solution is to move the park inside Hartman Park away from the surrounding neighbors.

“Why not achieve a win-win situation,” he wrote in an e-mail to the city. “The people who want the jump bike park get it and the citizens who live adjacent to the area aren’t harmed.”