The bicycling community weighs in as City of Monterey considers making a new 135-acre park.

On April 1, the City of Monterey sent out a press release stating its intent to turn the 135-acre Old Capitol site off Highway 1 into a dinosaur amusement park.

It was a joke.

The site, which Pebble Beach Co. gave to the city in 2019, would be nigh impossible to develop – it’s heavily forested with Monterey pines – and also carries a lot of fire risk. After the land was conveyed, the City re-designated the property from very-low-density residential to parks and open space in its general plan, and also changed the zoning designation from planned community to open space.

Now, the future of the Old Capitol Site is actively being dreamt about, as the City is going through a process to ask the public how they’d like to see the property utilized. (A survey on how best to use the site, the second so far, closes on Friday, June 7.)

The site is divided into three parcels, all of which are south of Highway 1 and roughly across the road from the Del Monte Center. (Several streets, including Sylvan, Barnet Segal and Iris Canyon roads, cut through the property.)

The site presents an opportunity for the city: It’s a beautiful open space, but, from a wildfire standpoint, it’s also a liability – it’s a forest of Monterey pines, on the edge of the wildland-urban interface. Two “special attention areas” provide permanent preservation of Monterey pine forest and other species.

But much of the space will eventually open for recreation. Pacific Grove resident Peter Berridge leads the way through the westernmost of the three of the sites, and is ebullient in his support for the idea he’s putting forth: A cycling playground for Monterey Peninsula residents. “The connectivity to the city makes it such a rare opportunity,” Berridge says.

He is a mountain biker and communications coordinator for the nonprofit Monterey Off Road Cycling Association, and sweeps his hand over the future parking lot on Site 2. His vision is for an adjacent “skill zone” space for young bikers to train. The idea is that it’s not a bike park, per se, but a multi-use park where both bikers and hikers are welcome.

Some minutes later, Berridge picks his step through Site 3, the easternmost of the sites, which he’s hoping to make accessible for bikes only.

But everything about the future of this property is up for grabs right now as the City’s survey process continues, and will eventually lead to a draft plan.

Berridge sees youth as a big part of the movement he’s trying to lead, and his enthusiasm is effusive: “There really is room for every activity. That’s what MORCA is really all about.”

That’s going to be the question the City wrestles with in the months to come. Managing public recreation spaces for walkers (or joggers or hikers) and cyclists has been a challenge elsewhere, so Berridge envisions a bicycles-only area to avoid conflict.

He plans to speak up on Wednesday, June 12 at the Monterey Parks and Recreation Commission meeting in support of the cycling-friendly concept.

The survey is available online (in English and Spanish) at haveyoursaymonterey.org/oldcapitolsite. Sara Rubin contributed to this report.