First step on Ludlam Trail? Show us the plans

Re the March 22 story, “The Ludlam Trail is finally ready to go; work on the first segment will start this year.”

It always seems to be one step forward, two steps back for the Ludlam Trail. While the article might paint the story that the trail is “ready to go,” nothing is further from the truth.

How can construction begin when no master plan has been created that will guide the design of the entire six-mile corridor?

At every point during the negotiation process for this project, Friends of Ludlam Trail has been assured that there will be time to develop and vet a design for the corridor, in much the same way we do for other public spaces, yet that is not happening.

The developers are ramming through their buildings, and the trail, without a strategy for how their small stretch of trail will connect to the larger vision, and without any coordination with the community.

Unfortunately, the county seems content to allow them to do so.

How are decisions being made with regard to trail alignment, landscaping, and the fundamental design of the space? Are we to rely on a single rendering of the trail published by the newspaper as our only sense of what this trail will be when complete?

How is that a sensible way of creating public spaces?

To be a truly iconic and successful park, careful thought needs to be given to how to create a unified and coordinated linear park. This should be more than a series of disconnected asphalt paths punctuated by whatever the developer thinks will benefit their bottom line.

It seems that after all the years of fighting for a trail, we’ve ended right where we started: A rush to develop without a plan or sense of public stewardship. The Ludlam Trail, and the community, deserve better.