A16
LOCAL
Wallowa County Chieftain
Wednesday, November 3, 2021
Club hopes to establish bicycle park in Enterprise
Site, funding both
being sought
FOR MORE
INFORMATION
By BILL BRADSHAW
Wallowa County Chieftain
What: Wallowa Moun-
tains Bicycle Club
ENTERPRISE — Pub-
lic parks to accommodate
fun on wheels seem to be
a growing concern these
days. First, there was refur-
bishing the Enterprise Skate
Park. Then plans for a bicy-
cle playground in Wallowa.
Now, a Wallowa County
club is hoping to get
approval — and funding —
for an Enterprise Bike Park
that would include a pump
track and possibly more
sometime next year.
According to www.bicy-
cling.com, a pump track is
a looped sequence of rollers
and berms (swoopy, banked
turns) for bike riders. It’s
designed
to
maximize
momentum so the rider can
ride with minimal pedaling.
“It’s one of the fast-
est-growing sports in Amer-
ica for cities to add to their
park collection for things to
do for all ages. It can be rid-
den by someone who’s old
enough to stand on a Stryder
bike to anyone,” said Zeb
Burke, vice president of the
Wallowa Mountains Bicycle
Club.
All kinds of bikes
The track could be for
“any kind of bicycles,” he
said. “There are some that
are better suited, such as
BMX bikes, mountain bikes,
kids’ bikes, things like that.”
“You can use skateboards,
roller blades, scooters, even
possibly wheelchairs,” club
President Angela Mart said.
Where: P.O. Box 166,
Joseph, OR 97846
Email: wallowamoun-
tainsbicycleclub@gmail.
com
Online: Facebook
Facebook/Contributed Photo
The Leavenworth Pump Track in Leavenworth, Washington, is similar to what the Wallowa Mountains Bicycle Club hopes to
have in Enterprise.
“These accommodate a wide
variety of activities.”
Burke said a road bike or
10-speed is not as conducive
to such a track.
“A downhill bike with a
lot of travel would be a lit-
tle harder because of all the
suspension,” he said. “It’s a
pumping action that actually
gets you around the track,
not pedaling.”
The pair, who had made
a presentation before the
Enterprise City Council on
Oct. 11 and made plans to
meet with the city’s Public
Works Committee to iden-
tify potential locations for
the park, discussed their
hopes and plans during an
interview Thursday, Oct. 28.
“The Enterprise City
Council was excited about
having a pump track, poten-
tially a bike park in Enter-
prise,” Mart said. “We have
since then met with the Pub-
lic Works Committee and
started to identify locations
that would be a good fi t for
it.”
Possible sites
Mart and Burke indicated
one site would be next to the
current skate park, but there
also are couple of areas by
the baseball fi elds on the
north side of town.
“Three, possibly four,
if the place behind the city
park works out,” Mart said.
“But, like Zeb said, there are
a lot of potential complica-
tions with that location.”
“(It’s a) riparian area,”
Burke said. “That’s the big-
gest one.”
Mart said that if they’re
able to locate the bike park
next to the skate park, com-
petition between the two
shouldn’t be an issue.
“If it ends up being there,
it’d be great for the kids to
have all of that in one loca-
tion,” she said. “That’d be
rad; if I was a kid, I’d like
to be able to do tricks at the
skate park and then work on
my skills on the pump track.
I think that’d be ideal.”
They are planning a park
of about 10,000 square
feet. Burke called that the
“smallest footprint” they’re
planning.
“The bigger it gets, the
more money it takes,” he
said. “In Enterprise, within
the city limits, we’re sort of
constrained in our allowed
spacing.”
The pair are well aware
of Ron Pickens’ plans to
establish a bicycle play-
ground in Wallowa. Pickens
was the moving force behind
the work completed this
year to refurbish the Enter-
prise Skate Park. Mart said
the Wallowa and Enterprise
plans have similar goals
— providing an accessible
place for youth activities.
“I say good for them.
It’s not going to hurt for the
county to have two pump
tracks,” she said. “It’d be
great for the kids. I think
Ron expressed that kids
down there don’t have the
opportunity to get up here
to engage in activities pro-
vided in the upper val-
ley. We look at it the same
way. We have families and
kids who don’t have trans-
portation or a way to haul a
bike other than to be able to
ride. That’s our goal to put
the pump track in a loca-
tion where it’s accessible to
everybody.”
Cost
They have a bid from
a builder in Bend called
Black Sage Dirt Works for
about $100,000, Mart said.
She said so far, the club
has raised about $2,000
from members. They also
have been approached by
local businesses who are
on board to do fundraisers.
The big money will likely
come from grants and “other
potential donors about the
possibility of giving funds to
support it,” she said.
They did a bit of shop-
ping around before settling
on Black Sage.
“One builder was over
$350,000,” Burke said. “We
found another that was a lot
lower.”
But they need to get a site
identifi ed before anything
else can be done. The grants
they hope to see require that,
and City Council approval
will have to come fi rst.
“We want to get the word
out to the community and
look for potential donors and
make the public aware of it,”
Mart said.
They agree that the park
will be more than just for
fun — bicycling is a healthy
activity, too.
“It’s the best workout you
can do for your upper body
and your core,” Burke said.
“Twenty minutes of that is
better than doing 10,000
steps. It’s an extremely
good, healthy activity.”
Council meets as employee confl icts resurface in Joseph
Emergency session held to address
issues; next session is Nov. 4
By BILL BRADSHAW
Wallowa County Chieftain
JOSEPH — Employee
disputes that were believed
to have been laid to rest
resurfaced recently and were
the subject of an emergency
executive session held by
the Joseph City Council on
Tuesday, Oct. 26.
The session was to
address “primarily a proce-
dural issue,” pro-tem city
Administrator Brock Eck-
stein said the following day.
“As pro-tem, I can’t issue
certain levels of discipline
that might be necessary … to
address certain issues we’re
having,” Eckstein said.
He confi rmed that the
issues were ongoing
former city Admin-
confl icts between
istrator/Recorder
Public Works Lead
Larry Braden, who
Levi Tickner and
resigned in April
Parks Lead Dennis
citing “harassment”
Welch.
by members of the
Earlier
this
council. The resolu-
Eckstein
Welch
Tickner
year, the Chieftain
tion turned the mat-
reported that on
ter over to Eckstein.
May 27, Welch made com-
On Aug. 5, the council
But now it’s all come to
plaints during an executive approved a resolution that a boil again and Eckstein
session against Tickner.
said both Welch and Tickner believed he needed to get the
Tickner later exercised are valued by the city and council’s approval to take
his option to respond in open part of the problem was a any disciplinary actions.
session.
lack of proper supervision by
“We didn’t discuss any of
the issues,” Eckstein said. “I
asked if they wanted talk to
(Welch and Tickner) or have
me handle it. … They felt
comfortable enough to let
me handle it at my level.”
He said he expects what-
ever action he takes will be
considered for approval by
the council at its next meet-
ing, Nov. 4. Last week’s
meeting was held virtually,
since two of the councilors
were down with COVID-19,
Eckstein said.
2021 William Bart Singley Memorial
In Support of the
Would like to say THANK YOU to the sponsors
and donations provided for our 2021 fundraiser:
Range Rider • Moonlight Graphics • Embers Brewhouse
Sports Corral • Layton Timber Products • Moonshine Glass
Uncle Bob’s Coffee • Terminal Gravity • Copper Creek Mercantile
Joseph Hardware • Ted Juve • Diane Daggett, Real Estate
Gabe &Cammie Hale • Hillock Insurance • Stubborn Mule & Saloon
Enterprise Electric • Joann Frioli
AIMEE MEYERS
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Aimee Meyers has be e volleyball court this season.
Eagles’ success on th setter plays a key role both on
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The sophomore
The coaches of the Ol e
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fe
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en
off
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notice when, followin
Oregon League took ed run through league play
Eagles’ undefeat tournament title, they
and a district
udly
of the year.
Pro onsore d b y
p
S
named her OOL player
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