There are already enough bike trails in the area. And with those existing bike trails, we have seen how quickly bikes cause damage and reduce the enjoyment of areas by local residents.
To preserve park and natural habitats, the St. Stephens Landscape, Spiritual Ambiance, Labyrinth and Bucolic setting, and Luther Burbank Experimental Farm's unique horticulture and pathways, bikes can do damage to the trails and disrupt this ecosystem and its quiet environs.
One of the most enjoyable features of the six acre property donated to senior housing by Luther and Elizabeth Burbank, is its walkable paths and diverse, sometimes delicate, landscape. An influx of tourism, bicyclists, ebikers, etc. would disrupt this bucolic scenery and put seniors on walkers or canes at risk of being accidentally hit by trail users.
The proposed Apple Blossom Trail was not feasible a decade ago and it is not feasible now with an exponential increase in population growth, as well as, the push for revenue from tourism.
Simply put, bicyclists, joggers, families on bikes, etc would displace the residents of Burbank Heights and Orchards by discouraging walking in their own community and put them at risk with the influx of multi-use trail users.
Bike communities and other lobbyists place the interests of bicyclists above that of Burbank Heights and Orchard's senior residents' safety and peaceable use of their home and enjoyment of property.
There are other streetways already in place that can be used, as have been for decades of families, cyclists, joggers, etc. The City has used grants and other funding, some loans, to provide a scenic pathway that eliminates already reduced parking, closes down rights of way, makes a dangerous turn near a blind yield, cuts through property owners' land, bypasses a spiritual center with Labyrinth and outdoor amphitheater, and through a senior housing community that often has seniors walking about with canes or walkers. The route would then pass through a 167-year old cemetery and come out on a busy road, passing through residential areas and back out onto a busy road. This not only shows disregard for our interred family members in the cemetery, it is not conducive to families riding with young children who would then be on a precarious stretch of road.
There has already been extensive road revisions done by CalTrans at the expense of approximately 2.6million dollars. Grants and the City paid for another 133k. A feasibility study would cost approximately 200k and all the relevant road and street revisions would cost well over 2m, as well as, payment for rights to the property of several homeowners in an expensive area of Sonoma County.
What's greatly needed is affordable housing. There are far more important issues and ways to support a greater number of residents.
