Old bat replacement????

Hello Andrei and others

A brief update on actions following the 16 March 2010 BMCC ordinary meeting where council decided to close OBR and Nichols Pde.

i) A committee of approx 12-18 Blue Mountains and Penrith Council (plus one Lilyfield moron) got together and formed the initial BMORC group ... I won't name these people ... but basically some were involved in the trail days and email campaigns pre OBR closures, whilst the majority were the older heads and locals throughout the mountains.

ii) At this stage the main reps are Paul King, Mark Hawling and Al "Vandal with a Search Engine" David
- We provided broad trail requirements such as a fall of approx 150m; length 2ks to 4ks; natural terrain; 2wd shuttle road etc etc (apologies off the top of my head).

iii) in Early April Paul King, Cillian Kennedy and "The Vandal" met with BMCC staff to walk through initial "desk top" searches undertaken by Staff (Soren).
- The main search criteria was anything between 100 to 150m change in elevation, in all BMCC managed reserves.
- This came up with approx 13 sites ... however, most of these had various issues (residents, significant environment concerns - ie flora or fauna colonies etc etc, in appropriate access, inappropriate road infrastructure etc etc).
- two sites highlighted have existing PoMs ... which I'll not highlight PM me if needed.

In Summary:
As per the first BMCC staff report ... there are no appropriate areas located based on both Rider and Council criteria.

iv) In the meantime PK and AD had separate discussions with various Councillors which showed both a level of support and willingness to assist the process created post 16 March meeting.
- Further, one of these meetings with PK lead to recommendations for potential sites in and around Mt Vic and Mt Piddington.
- I have passed this on to Soren, this week and he advised me today that he will run his searches over the sites and advise back at soonest.

Next steps
i) Soren to issue minutes following initial desk top searches.
- I've asked for a timeline and list of next steps
ii) Staff to issue new report
- we will need to review this closely
iii) See what council has to say.

At this stage I can only conclude, as per the First BMCC staff report that OBR was the only appropriate location.

BMORC has some plans re follow up recommendations ... however, at this stage it is critical that we continue to develop our register of riders and supporters, so that we can more effectively lobby council.

Please continue to pass on the word to local riders about this BMORC site and the importance of registering ... so that we can contact you when the time comes to act more concertedly.

In the meantime, we are focusing on the social side of riding (which will initially focus on trail riding those legitimate trails available to us) and slowly build and organise what we know is a large rider community throughout the Blue Mountains and surrounds.

Apologies for the novel ... Should you have any further questions ... don't hestitate to post up ... or PM me on here or RB.

Cheers and hope to see a few new faces on Sundays Oaks ride

Cheers
Al

Just wanted to make a suggestion if it hasn't come up yet.

1. Kurrajong (would be maybe an idea of getting in touch with the Pylet boys.) There is already a semi descent DH track with tow rope, although only 1.5 min long. There has been talks of running all the way down the hill, as the land under the ex grass karts is meant to be crown land. This would give a massive run.

2. Yellowmundi, from the lookout back down into the carpark.