Houston will choose a path for off-highway vehicle trail plan
Jun. 13—HOUSTON — Scott Wallace vaguely knew of a plan to put an off-highway vehicle park on the bluff behind a property he was buying on the edge of Houston.
The proposal had been in the works more than a decade but he was unsure of its details or status. Wallace said he assumed it would be for motor bikes and maybe four-wheel ATVs.
"In all reality, when I first heard about it, I thought it would be kind of neat to have in our backyard and that we'd probably use it," Wallace said. "My sense of a trail was a path between the pines."
Wallace and his wife Darla learned the plan calls for allowing full-size vehicles with an entrance road wide enough for two full-size vehicles to pass each other.
The proposed trail would provide about 75 miles of trails for off-highway vehicles along and around the bluff south of Houston. Most of the trails would be wide enough to accommodate full-size vehicles.
Proponents say it would be a visitor destination in a state that is mostly flat.
The plan has been underway since 2009. The city has acquired land through matching grants from the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources for the trail. However city leadership has changed and a growing vocal opposition to the off-highway vehicle park has come forward.
The Houston City Council will review the plan and the next steps to continue or withdraw from the plan at its regular meeting Monday, June 14.
Wallace said he already sees a problem.
The couple has dealt with sand eroding from the bluff that borders and is part of their property to the south. Natural erosion and erosion from horse trails along the bluff led to sand deposits piling up alongside the couple's barn.
"(The trail) would just start a huge erosion problem," Wallace said.
The trail's entrance road would abut the couple's property along a bluff.
"There's no room for an easement and they'll still have to cut into the hill," Wallace said.
Shortly after they bought the property in August last year, the Wallaces hired contractors to haul away some of the sand. It took 30 dump truck loads to clear the land along the barn, he said.
"If this trail gets built we'll have all that back in a week," he said.
Erosion from the sandy bluff and bluff prairie is one of the concerns people have raised about the planned park.
Others are concerned about noise and other impacts on wildlife and the ecosystem.
Karla Bloem, executive director of the International Owl Center has been a vocal opponent to the project. The roads would cut through unique bluff prairie ecosystems, she said.
"Once you cut into this, you can't put it back," she said.
Bloem said she's dubious that volunteers would be able to mitigate erosion and maintain the park.
"We all see how much work and maintenance the road cuts around here take," she said. "And that's with a state agency with millions of dollars maintaining them."
Joe Unger, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources off-highway vehicle planner, said the land would offer a unique riding experience.
Unger will present an overview of the plan, what needs to happen next to continue and what might happen if the city withdraws from the project.
Unger said it's uncommon for an entity to pull out from a project after land has been acquired. He said if the city would continue to move forward with the project, it would need to apply for grant funding from the Federal Recreational Trails Program to qualify for matching DNR funding.
If the council decides to withdraw from the plan, the city would need to either pay back the DNR for land acquisition or potentially turn the land over to the DNR.
Unger said he isn't advocating either option.
"In the end, this is a city decision," he said.
