Trail Trumps Ramps: Matt's Good Idea

On Friday, while hurrying home to avoid the impending rain, I ran into four-year Pine Lake resident and handyman to many of us Matthew Pulsts.

The rain held off while Matt and I talked about this and that, and eventually about the lack of accessibility to the playground at the beach.

Take a look at the playground the next time you walk or drive past, or just study the second picture below and you'll see the playground is several feet lower than Lakeshore Drive. To reach the playground it's necessary to climb over the green-and-white concrete brick wall at the edge of Lakeshore Drive or enter via the ramp near the clubhouse and walk or roll 150 feet or so along a path.

This ramp at the west side of the beach house
provides access to the beach and playground

The playground lies at the end of this path

It's also possible to reach the playground by scrambling down an earthen bank beside the green bench that sits about five feet out on the berm.

Matt said the city has been thinking about access for people using wheelchairs, and two ideas for ramps-- one wooden, and one made of concrete-- have been advanced.

Think about a ramp that starts about midway down the path  two photos above and descends to the playground. Now think about a concrete ramp structure at the end of the wall (the area in the photo just above). Functional, perhaps, but neither pretty nor elegant.

Matt has another idea, and it made perfect sense to me. He envisions an alternative to ramps-- a short trail that would begin about 50 feet out on the berm and descend gently to the playground, following the berm. Creating the trail would require only a little backfilling.

Matt's trail can be been seen in brown, above. Purple marks the approximate spot for a proposed zigzagging set of concrete ramps, and green marks a long wooden ramp would descend along the concrete block wall.

Matt's proposed path would start just past the tree at center

and descend gradually to the playground

Matt's idea is organic and perfectly in theme-- a natural-looking trail that would serve the same purpose as obtrusive metal or wooden or concrete ramps.

I hope the city government knows a good idea when it sees one.

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p.s.I'm not quite sure what those blocks of concrete are in the foreground, below, but judging from the concrete in the background there used to be steps that descended from Lakeshore Drive.