Community Shows Support for Legalized Access to Blue Mountain

Residents of Grand Terrace, Colton, Highgrove and surrounding communities joined together at Grand Terrace City Hall on Jan. 25 to discuss future plans regarding the Blue Mountain Nature Trail project. Led by G. Harold Duffey, Grand Terrace city manager, and Darren Rector, MIG landscape architect and design consultant for the project, the goal of the meeting was to go over the proposal, including each of its objectives and updates on progress that has been made so far, while opening the floor for discussion to hear opinions from the community. “This is amazing to see how many people have come out just for this meeting,” Rector said. “It obviously indicates that everyone is really passionate about this trail and is excited.” The Blue Mountain Nature Trail is part of a larger City Council project, assessing all the parks in Grand Terrace, determining their capacity, and bringing them into compliance. Advisory groups pertaining to each park were formed, including groups for a skate park, a dog park and the Blue Mountain Nature Trail. Separate meetings are held for each group, including the one held Jan. 25. Currently, the city of Grand Terrace owns 20 acres of Blue Mountain spanning several hundred acres. Though this city-owned land can be accessed via Van Buren Boulevard and Observation Street, there is no way to reach the trail from that point. In order to do so, hikers and bikers have to cross over wide expanses of privately-owned land, which is illegal and has become an issue. “We’re the Blue Mountain City with no real access to the mountain,” Duffey said. The proposal, which is a joint effort by MIG and the city of Grand Terrace, is currently in Task 5, which is Base Map Preparation, of Phase 1, Project Initiation. Based on information gathered from surveys, aerial maps and feedback from the community through the meeting, MIG will create a base map to present to City Council for approval. The base map will include details of a trailhead, which could potentially be at Van Buren and Observation, where the city owns the land. Land would then be purchased to connect the trailhead to the Blue Mountain Nature Trail in a way that is both safe for hikers and bikers and conscientious to neighbors and residents of the area. “I do think it’s very critical to be considerate of the people that live off of Observation so that they don’t hate their homes,” said Sally Hally, resident of Grand Terrace, during the meeting. During the course of the meeting, Rector presented a wish list of various amenities the trailhead would offer, including a modular restroom, a drinking fountain, fencing, vehicle gates, identification signage, a parking lot, wood stairs and more. Various community members debated the necessity of a large number of parking spaces, saying that while many people could walk to the trailhead from their homes, the potential legal access to the Blue Mountain Nature Trail would also attract more people in the future, especially with the Blue Mountain Annual Hike coming up on March 5, an event that in the past has attracted between 800 and 1,000 people. According to the community, parking on residential streets to hike up the mountain has been an issue. Other suggestions from the community also included trash cans, additional signage informing people where to park if parking was full, and even zip lines. The possibility of turning a portion of Blue Mountain into a land conservancy project to attract funding was also discussed. Rector said that once a conceptualized master plan has been hammered out, the plan will be presented to City Council and at that point, they will research estimated budgets and sources of funding. Denis Kidd, president of the Friends of Blue Mountain and owner of about 120 acres of land on Blue Mountain, said that the Friends of Blue Mountain has already raised $50,000. “If the city gets the plan, then they have to get some money from grants or something,” Kidd said. Duffey added that the city of Grand Terrace has a good relationship with its assembly member, its senator and its congressman. “The goal is that (when we have) a finished product, we can say, ‘State of California, federal government, you have money for trails, we have a product ready to go,’” he said. The meeting attracted about 50 in attendance, which was a larger number than Kidd, Duffey or Rector had anticipated. Kidd said that he was trying to get as many people as he could to come. Nina Mohammed, a resident of Grand Terrace and assistant program director for the Inland Empire Biking Alliance, said that she has been meaning to go up the mountain but has not found a legal passageway to do so yet, so going to meetings like these are important to her. “This trail can mean a lot, both for the city of Grand Terrace and just the activities that can be done on the trail, especially now that they’re having conversations about parking and whatnot,” she said. “That’s relevant to how it gets done because whatever gets put into plan and then implemented will affect the residents and the general community.” Duffey said next steps include more community meetings to gather more feedback, and the formation of the base map, and he encouraged those at the Jan. 25 meeting to remain “committed to the process.” Friends of Blue Mountain meet on the third Tuesday of every month at 7 p.m. at Azure Hills 7th Day Adventists Church, and the annual hike will be held March 5 at 8 a.m.