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June 12, 2007
Park Zoning Never Updated
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| Chico's General Plan defers to the Bidwell Park Master
Management Plan on issues of park use and park facilities. If the Master
Plan allows something like disc golf off of highway 32 then it's okay. All of Bidwell Park is zoned as OS-1 (open space). That means that the zoning designation for Caper Acres, Sycamore Pool, Hooker Oak Recreation Area, Bear Hole, and Browns Hole are all the same. Additionally, at the time of the last General Plan update, all of Bidwell Park had a zoning overlay as a Resource Conservation Area (or RCA) applied to it. At the same time areas adjacent to Bidwell Park were designated as Resource Management Areas (or RMA) which have a lower threshold for preservation. The 1380 acre "New Addition" and the 40 acre BLM property (where disc golf resides) were also added to Bidwell Park in 1994, and apparently the RCA overlay was never extended to those new properties. The black and white image above shows the RCA and RMA designations and they follow the park boundary as it existed before the new properties were added (this map can be found on page 12 of the Open Space chapter of Chico's General Plan). The color image below shows the current park boundary and is from the new draft Master Plan. Note: In the BW image the dotted pattern denotes oak woodland, and the whitish color underneath designates the RMA overlay. The RMA zone extends east of highway 32 (the vertical eastern boundary of much of the park). |
| So what is the effect of these areas being an
RMA versus an RCA? From a purely technical standpoint it would mean that building a disc golf course at the existing location (an RMA) would be the more desirable than building it in an area designated RCA. People that oppose disc golf at its current location have also used the assumed RCA designation as an argument not to improve the site. That argument was made in a recent Chico Beat editorial, and an article written by the Friends of Bidwell Park in the recent BEC newsletter. Those arguments now seem to have less merit. The reality is that RCA or RMA designations don't have that much bearing on this discussion. If a playground is appropriate in an RCA zone (Caper Acres is appropriate right?) then a disc golf course or a mountain bike trail can be as well. An RCA designation doesn't preclude recreation facilities from being built. At the end of the day the Chico City Council will make the call, and the RMA designation of the disc golf site might make a positive decision easier for some of them. But regardless of that decision they should probably update the zoning on their maps. |
Posted by Lon at June 12, 2007 11:35 PM
Comments
The border between the two zones seem to follow the edge of the cliff.
I remember talking to the rancher that ran his cattle up there before the City owned it. It was Thanksgiving morning and he was fixing the fence where some four wheelers had driven through it. His cows had got out onto the highway and he was in a really bad mood. I tagged along to shoot the breeze and try to cheer him up a little. I found out his family was from the same part of Arizona where I grew up. It was all part of the Musty Buck Hunting Club in those days and there wasn't any fence between the private land and the BLM land.
I wish the Park Dept. would shift more of their attention to the steep slopes between the cliffs and the creek. Since the cows have been gone the brush has grown all around the big oaks and pines. We have recently seen how these trees don't do so well in brush fires over on the North Rim. This area is a lot steeper and a lot denser. We should get some goats out there this season. It would be a real shame to lose those big trees.
Posted by: Gregg Payne at June 13, 2007 08:14 AM
They'd have to be special goats trained not to eat Butte County Checkerbloom, and trained not to step on Bidwell's Knotweed. Perhaps we could get together and build a robitic goat with proprammable plant recognition software.
I really liked the goats when they were in the park. It was kind of like having a temporary zoo that was free to visit. My dog didn't like the electric fencing though.
Lon
Posted by: Lon at June 13, 2007 08:25 AM
Most of these brush management goats are trained to stay inside an area taped off with yellow tape. They still think the tape is electric even though it's not. Kind of like how cows think they will break their legs if they walk over white stripes painted across a road.
Years ago, I met with a lady who ran a herd of a thousand of them. She said they would clear fourty acres in three days. By the time she walked around and taped off the next fourty acres, the goats were ready to move into it.
Posted by: Gregg Payne at June 13, 2007 09:23 AM
I was more intrigued by the imagery of a kind and gentle "biblical" goat herder. He could travel the hills and dales of the south side of Bidwell Park, and impart wisdom on us park goers.
In the event of a swollen creek, he could even part the waters so pedestrians could cross. I think that's more likely than a bridge being built.
Lon
Posted by: Lon at June 13, 2007 09:33 AM