Oakville trail neighbors may stop planned Cliff Cave Park trail - contacting STL County leaders may help| Call

Headlines are quick hits from media outlets from Missouri and around the world. Follow the headline link for the full story. The source of this headline says:

A new paved trail proposed for Cliff Cave Park is on hold due to objections from neighbors that the trail expansion could accelerate the county park's existing safety issues.

Great Rivers Greenway hopes to build a 2-mile paved loop, similar to Grant's Trail, in Oakville. The path would wind up and down the bluffs from a trailhead on Cliff Cave Road and end at a pedestrian-only en-trance at Telegraph and Erb roads.

But legislation allowing the greenway district to use county land for the project has been delayed by 6th District County Councilman Ernie Trakas, R-Oakville, since he took office last month.

After holding his first constituent meeting last week to hear residents' concerns about the trail expansion, Trakas said he will decide this week whether to advance the legislation.

At a Jan. 26 meeting at the Pavilion at Lemay attended by roughly 50 residents, Trakas gave no indication of whether he supports the project or not, but said he was interested in hearing from the neighbors.

"They wanted to introduce it, I said no dice, I wanted to hear from you," Trakas told attendees. "I have to move it, and that hasn't happened. It may not happen."

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Oakville trail neighbors may stop planned Cliff Cave Park trail - contacting STL County leaders may help| Call

MoBikeFed comment: The trail would be an important addition to the trail system in this part of the county.

Experience says that the objections of immediate neighbors to trails is most often based on fear of what might happen. Once the trail is in place, by far the majority of neighbors will support it strongly and use it regularly.

If you live in, work in, or visit St. Louis County, this is a situation where taking a few minutes to contact your St. Louis County council representative could make a big difference. Just let them know that you support trails and a bicycle-friendly county in general, specifically you support the Cliff Cave Park trail and hope the County will move forward with it.

Please be polite and persuasive when you call or email.

St Louis County Council Member Ernie Trakas is the County representative of the local area and point person for this issue with the council. E-mail address is etrakas@stlouisco.com and phone 314-615-0159.

contact information for other St. Louis County Council members is here:

http://www.stlouisco.com/YourGovernment/CountyCouncil