The BMX bicycle track at Anonymous Park will be seeing some upgrades and changes, Moab city officials said last week. The Moab City Council approved an agreement Aug. 28 between the city and the Moab Trails Alliance to expand the park and add other improvements.

Moab City Manager Donna Metzler said city employees were presented with the idea of a new expanded park in March. The initial proposal included “an expanded jump track, BMX course, flow trail and skill-building area,” Metzler said, in a memo to Moab City Council members.

“The proposal was quite ambitious,” Metzler said.

After doing additional research, Metzler said city staff decided that it would be better to phase in the project, starting with a small pilot program.

“We felt like it was more appropriate to scale that back,” she said.

That modified proposal would be the first phase of the project.

“Phase 1 would consist of upgrading and expanding the existing dirt jump track, building a pump track, and improving the existing BMX track,” Metzler said.

According to the proposal from the Moab Bike Park Committee, “a pump track is a short circuit track built into a small area that is designed to allow the rider to ride the course continuously without pedaling by using weight shirts (pumping) over rollers and through bermed turns.”

Though the Moab Bike Park Committee originally approached the city with the proposal, Moab Trails Alliance has agreed to take on the responsibility for maintaining the bike park, Metzler said. Many of the people on the committee are members of MTA as well. As part of the agreement, MTA’s maintenance of the park will be provided by employees of local bike shops.

Metzler indicated that if Phase 1 is successful, and the group stays on top of maintaining the park, the city would potentially consider further improvements and changes at Anonymous Park in the future.

“Is this... expansive bike park the kind of thing we want to see happen on the property?” Metzler asked. “If we’re going to go into further phases, I think the council needs to talk about that and be sure that that’s the kind of park that we want.”

Metzler said that starting with a small pilot project such as the changes included in the Phase 1 plan will enable the city to go ahead with some changes without making any big policy decisions.

“I think this is a great plan,” council member Gregg Stucki said. “I commend the city for taking a realistic approach... The more people that are in the mix, the better.”

Stucki suggested that Club Red, the Moab teen center, could potentially take on some of the maintenance responsibilities since the center has used the track in the past to hold BMX competitions.

Moab Trails Alliance will be responsible for all the costs associated with the improvements made to the park, in addition to planning and coordination of the construction.

In addition to the Phase 1 improvements at the bike park, the city is also planning to install some slackline anchors within the park. Slacklining is a sport in which nylon webbing (typically) is stretched between two anchors so that it can be walked or used for doing feats or tricks.