Supplemental No. 2 AGENDA ITEM #6.E Distributed 1/22/16. TO: Los Altos Hills Town Council FROM: Nancy Couperus

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1 Supplemental No. 2 AGENDA ITEM #6.E Distributed 1/22/16 From: To: Cc: Subject: Date: Attachments: John Harpootlian; Gary C. Waldeck; Courtenay C. Corrigan; J Radford; Roger Spreen Deborah Padovan Prohibiting Bikes in Byrne Preserve Tuesday, January 19, :55:10 AM ByrnePreservePathwaysV2.pdf Jill"s letter.doc Petition.pdf TO: Los Altos Hills Town Council FROM: Nancy Couperus I am not representing the Open Space Committee in writing to you. I am writing to you as an individual who has been involved with Westwind Community Barn and the associated open space of Byrne Preserve since Byrne Preserve, being situated next to Westwind Community Barn, is the main trail-riding venue used by equestrians who board horses at the horse facility, by youngsters and volunteers in the 4-H disabled riding program, and by youngsters and adults enrolled in riding programs at the Community Barn and various summer camp activities sponsored by the Town s Parks and Recreation Department. The purpose of this letter is to highlight the issue of safety for these equestrian uses in the context of mountain bike users (as well as other types of bicycles). The presence of mountain bikes on narrow, windy, and steep trails is particularly dangerous when horses are being ridden on the trails. The horse is by nature a prey animal that has evolved so as to always be on the alert for predators, and at hair-trigger readiness to take flight when alarmed. When a horse detects the swift approach of an unfamiliar and relatively silent thing somewhere in its blind spot, it can act almost explosively dumping the rider and taking off to reach safety. I m submitting a letter (attached) that describes incidents when bikers came off the trail in Byrne Preserve and onto the lower area of the Westwind property. The writer of this letter recommends signs warning of the danger. Unfortunately, while more visible signs have been posted, the problems still persist. I gathered an informal petition from both riders and horse trainers at Westwind last fall, several of whom recounted to me falls and narrow escapes caused by mountain bikes along the Artemas Ginzton Trail. Beginning at minute 3:00, the last minute and a half of this 5-minute video demonstrates better than words can portray the speed and danger posed to anyone (hiker or equestrian) on a trail used by mountain bikers. I am appealing to you the Town Council of Los Altos Hills to support a ban on bikes in

2 Byrne Preserve. With some 90 miles of multi-use trails in Los Altos Hills, setting aside 3 miles of trails in a nature preserve for the exclusive use of hikers and equestrians is not I believe an unreasonable request. Thank you for your consideration. ATTACHMENTS: Map showing the location of the Trails in Byrne Preserve Letter from a Westwind Community Barn member Petition signed by hikers, equestrians, and horse trainers This has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software.

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4 From: Jill Symon > Date: Fri, Jul 3, 2015 at 4:08 AM Subject: bikes To: Torie Dye <t Hi Torie, Ugh. I hate to be sending you another so soon but I honestly feel like we ve got a safety issue. Since we ve been at Westwind almost 5 years now I ve seen this happen 4 times. Not a lot, but last night could have been so tragic and I think there s a solve that will reduce the issue. Last night two bikers came speeding into the lower arena area from the trail and rode past the arena and spooked Tony so much that he actually fell and fell on top of Emma. She is fine (except a sprained ankle) and I think he is fine, maybe sore today. But it was so scary and it could have been absolutely horrible if he had landed on her about one foot higher, her abdomen. This same thing happened in February with a family of bikers that came through and he spooked and threw her off but didn t spook so much that he actually fell himself. And I ve seen this two other times, once Katarina got flung against the fence on Twiggy when one biker came off the trail and once when Lenny threw his previous owner Lexi off when a biker came down the side of the ridge. The problem is that these bikers have ridden right past the NO BIKE sign directly in front of them on the trail. It s an old wooden sign, not very pronounced or clear. I would like to propose that we put a more clear, brighter sign up. One that the bikers would actually notice and at least get off and possible walk their bikes through more carefully. It s clear to me as these guys were making jokes about the fall that they had no idea that they had broken any rules or had part of the accident. They just don t know and I think there s a way to help them know. I was thinking this might be something I should take up with the town which I m happy to do but wanted to run it by you first to see what you recommend. Thank so much. Jill

5 -- Torie Dye Owner, Victoria Dye Equestrian Barn Manager, Westwind Community Barn

6 As walkers, hikers, and equestrians, we are very concerned about speeding bikes on the Artemas Ginzton Trail in Byrne Preserve. We strongly endorse the Town Council's decision to prepare an ordinance prohibiting bikes in Byrne Preserve, except for the fire road that connects Moody Road to Central Drive. f 61 i,_... _ f ;; // n a M

7 As walkers, hikers, and equestrians, we are very concerned about speeding bikes on the Artemas Ginzton Trail in Byrne Preserve. We strongly endorse the Town Council's decision to prepare an ordinance prohibiting bikes in Byrne Preserve, except for the fire road that connects Moody Road to Central Drive. / /