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Torrington and nw corner trails

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#42 ·
RideTheEast said:
Granted I am new, but Norbrook appears to be pretty successful and indicate otherwise?
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Norbrook is a business, I grew up down the street and know the owners. John asked me early on about the ROI of trails and I encouraged him to hire pros and build MTB-optimized trails. Pinnacle has grown tremendously over the years and you can see it in the build and maintenance of Norbrook. I know them well, great folks. Norbrook continues to invest because, shocker, it's been a huge draw.

My friends in town and mom who still lives nearby comment on the tremendous bike traffic. It is most definitely a case study in quality trails, but it was spearheaded for a business. My point is the general riding community and NEMBA aren't going to do the hard work to make comparable things happen on public lands. And let's face it, our public lands are the real gems.

Norbrook had resources, local riders need to match or exceed that to get things done. And they are starting from below 0 given the general public and state's view on riding/quality trails.
 
#45 ·
iceboxsteve said:
'06!
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Nice. So I met with the Torrington Parks director on another matter yesterday, and brought this up to him. He said the town is very interested in exactly this sort of infrastructure (as evidenced by the ball fields, disc golf course, BMX track, Christmas Village, etc) but the issue is funding and maintenance. Manpower wise they have a hard time just keeping up with trimming the brush back on the disc golf course.

Susan Charlene Besse Park off Riverside Ave has ~100 unused acres which would be amazing for a trail system. If an advocacy group approached the town with plan to fund and maintain a trail system, it would likely be given a green light.
 
#46 ·
RideTheEast said:
Nice. So I met with the Torrington Parks director on another matter yesterday, and brought this up to him. He said the town is very interested in exactly this sort of infrastructure (as evidenced by the ball fields, disc golf course, BMX track, Christmas Village, etc) but the issue is funding and maintenance. Manpower wise they have a hard time just keeping up with trimming the brush back on the disc golf course.

Susan Charlene Besse Park off Riverside Ave has ~100 unused acres which would be amazing for a trail system. If an advocacy group approached the town with plan to fund and maintain a trail system, it would likely be given a green light.
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Funding is an issue, sure, but places like West Virginia are dumping millions into trails. Alabama has dumped millions. So the money is there. When I go to those places and tell them CT can't fund modern trails they laugh.

100 acres is pretty small, less than 10 miles definitely, depending on terrain and current use less than 5 possible.

If you want to move some projects forward I'm happy to provide some resources for that effort. Lot's of guidance, education, books, case studies, grants, foundations, organizations, and people out there to tap in order to learn more and make things happen.
 
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iceboxsteve
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