Orlando Mountain Bike Park

It is always a big chore digging through emails after 2 weeks of out of town charrettes. I was uplifted when I stumbled upon this email from Malisa, from Orlando Parks & Rec. 

4/7/2010
Greetings All,
I have fantastic news to share…
This morning we received final approval to move forward with the mountain bike park AND yesterday the Winter Park Health Foundation confirmed they will be funding the initial construction of the project with a grant of $25,000 to start and another $25,000 to match additional grant funding I am seeking. We hope to end up with a total $75,000 to create a useful park for the community.
We will be holding a public design meeting on May 1st, 2010 at Area “C” from 9am to 1pm to allow greatest participation in a casual format – you are welcome to come for the whole event or pieces.
9am to 11am project overview and design options set out at several stations for you to comment on and make suggestions.
11am to 12pm site tour to discuss the options and how the design will function.
12pm to 1pm we will circle back to narrow down the choices for a DRAFT plan.
Expect to construct in October 2010.
DIRECTIONS AND DETAILS WILL FOLLOW IN A FEW WEEKS ON FACEBOOK. If you have not already checked out the Facebook page, go to: “Orlando Mtn Bike Park“.
Please sign up as this will be THE means of communicating details about the park as we move forward.
We would like everyone to be a part of this community collaboration.
If you have comments or questions, I can be reached via email; however, we prefer you please use the Facebook page as we are trying to make this a community process with as much input as possible since the trails will be built and maintained by the community on vacant City park land.
Thanks for all your support and interest – we will be calling in all those offers of help to construct in October!!
Malisa Mccreedy, AICP MPA
Planning Manager
Families, Parks & Recreation
City of Orlando

Everyone that is interested should come to the design workshop on Saturday May 1, to help get some ideas on paper. This park has great potential to get more people interested in cycling and should increase connectivity opportunities in the neighborhood.