NANAIMO -- The city of Nanaimo is reminding its park users that constructing unauthorized mountain bike trails within its municipal parks is illegal and not permitted.
The city says that anyone who is building mountain bike trails should stop immediately, or possibly face fines under the municipality’s parks, recreation and culture regulation bylaw.
“It’s getting to be a bigger problem,” said Al Britton, manager of parks for the city of Nanaimo.
On Wednesday morning city crews dismantled an unauthorized mountain trail in Linley Valley.
The trail was interfaced with a walking trail which the city says could pose as a huge safety risk to people on foot.
“Linley Park is a nice jewel in the centre of the city and a lot of people love to walk here,” said Britton. “And when something like this happens in here, my phone rings off the hook.”
The unauthorized trails can also negatively impact the surrounding environment that the city has deemed to be natural areas.
The city says the right way to go about making trails within municipal parks is to connect with local mountain bike clubs that work closely with the city.
“We would look at the area best suited for this and would look at developing a mountain bike area that will keep less interface with the public [that’s] walking and make it safer for everyone,” said Britton
Members of the community are encouraged to report illegal or suspicious activity in Nanaimo parks to Bylaw Services at 250-755-4422. Any parks maintenance issues can be reported to Parks Operations at 250-755-7515.
