Sheboygan County Cycling (SCC) is looking to improve the Evergreen Park experience for all park users.
Since 2023, the city has partnered with the SCC and the International Mountain Biking Association Trail Solutions (IMBA) to survey the park’s trails and form a conceptual plan for future development.
This was made a priority after the City realized that Evergreen Park’s current trail system was lacking proper signage, direction, and care with the outcome coming in the form of the proposed Trail Improvement Concept Plan.
Nathaniel Darling, SCC President, and Judd Baumann, a SCC Board member, spoke with SeehaferNews.com to explain the concept plan and what it hopes to accomplish.
“A lot of the trails here, they hold a lot of water, they erode in a really bad way, and they’re going in areas where they really shouldn’t,” said Darling. “So a lot of the drive is to ensure that they are more sustainable and better for the environment and just to ensure that it performs better as a multiuse trail system.”
However, this proposal has not been without its opposition as public sentiment has been split both for and against the concept plan.
But, where all Evergreen Park users can agree though, is that the park has been neglected for quite some time and is in need of serious work to make life better for all who enjoy the park.
That’s why Baumann and SCC want to enlist the help of professionals if the plan gets approved.
“We have a trail care school being presented by IMBA in August. We are going to learn more hands-on sustainable trail-building techniques. They’re coming here to teach us onsite,” he explained.
While Darling added, “Our overall goal with the proposal at Evergreen is we want to bring in the professionals. We can ensure the long-term longevity of the trail and just really ensure that we are following best practices as a volunteer organization.”
Darling and Baumann also noted that at its core, this is still merely just a concept plan and that nothing within it is a guarantee.
While it is offering a guideline for what comes next, SCC has stated that they are open to changes if it’s what the public asks for.
One of the plan’s aspects that has received the most opposition is that of an 18,000 square-foot asphalt pump track that would be built, if approved, in the project’s fourth and final phase.
Much of the plan’s first phase work has already been completed by adding additional signage and establishing a designated route through the park.
As previously mentioned, everyone agrees that the park needs work, and SCC has stressed that if any improvements are to be made, a concept plan in some form must be passed.
Currently, the concept plan in its entirety is estimated to cost over $1.5 million, and the City has allocated $150,000 over the next three years.
SCC has already raised over $200,000 in support of the project, with both sides able to apply for grants to secure additional funding as well.
The plan is set to go in front of the Sheboygan Common Council for final approval in the coming weeks.
