Larkspur Bike Park location update - help needed!

Dear Larkspur Bike Park Supporters,

We’re reaching out with an exciting update…and a big way you can help!

After evaluating potential locations, we believe the decommissioned dog park behind the Hall Middle School soccer field would be an excellent site for a community bike park.

The location has several important advantages:

• It connects directly to the Piper Park parking lot and public bathrooms
• It is easy for local children and families to reach
• It is close to Hall Middle School and existing recreational facilities
• There are no homes or immediate neighbors directly adjacent to the site
• It would put an unused public space back into productive community use

This is not yet an approved location, but we believe it deserves serious consideration. We now need to demonstrate how much community support exists for both the bike park and the evaluation of this potential site.

We are now speaking to bike park production companies to get a high level proposal in front of the Larkspur Park & Rec Commission.  

Please send a short, personal email to our local government officials showing them your support for a bike park at the old dog park in Larkspur.

If everyone on this list sends a handful of messages to our public officials, it will make a huge meaningful impact. A strong response will show Larkspur and Marin County officials that a bike park in Larkspur is something local families, young people, cyclists of all ages, and community members genuinely want and will use. Please take a few minutes to email one or more of the following folks. An example email is below.

Larkspur Parks and Recreation Commission 

If you know any of the Commissioners personally, please send them a note directly, otherwise email recreation@cityoflarkspur.org and Nick Stone, Parks Director nstone@cityoflarkspur.org.

Commissioner Reide Baxter
Commissioner Jeanne Friedel
Commissioner Victoria Harrison
Commissioner Michael Koeppel
Commissioner Lisbet Sunshine

Larkspur City Council

Mayor Stephanie Andre: sandre@cityoflarkspur.org
Councilmember Gabe Paulson: gpaulson@cityoflarkspur.org
Councilmember Sarah Margulies: smargulies@cityoflarkspur.org
Councilmember Scot Candell: scandell@cityoflarkspur.org
Councilmember Catherine Way: cway@cityoflarkspur.org

Marin County Commissioners

Brian Colbert (District 2 Supervisor): Brian.Colbert@marincounty.gov
Sarah Jones (Director, Community Development Agency): Sarah.Jones@marincounty.gov
Chris Chamberlain (Director, Marin County Parks): Chris.Chamberlain@marincounty.gov

A sample email is below. Please personalize it with your own experiences, priorities, and reasons for supporting the project. Personal messages are much more powerful than identical form letters.

Thank you for helping us build support for a safe, accessible, and community-focused bike park in Larkspur!

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Subject line: Support for a bike park at the old Larkspur Dog Park location

First, thank you for your service to our community and all you do behind the scenes to make this a great place to live! I’m writing to express my strong support for creating a community bike park in Larkspur and for formally evaluating the decommissioned dog park behind Hall Middle School soccer field as a potential location.

This site appears especially promising because it connects directly to the Piper Park parking lot and public bathrooms, has convenient access, is near Hall Middle School and other recreational facilities, and does not have homes or immediate neighbors directly adjacent to it. It would also be an opportunity to transform an unused public space into a valuable recreational resource for the community.

A thoughtfully designed bike park would give children, teenagers, and adults a safe and accessible place to exercise, develop skills, spend time outdoors, and connect with other members of the community.

A bike park would:

• Give young people a healthy alternative to spending time on phones and screens 
• Provide an informal recreational space that people can use without joining a team or following a fixed schedule 
• Allow riders to develop their skills gradually and safely on features designed for different experience levels 
• Create a destination where families can spend time together in Larkspur
• Serve bikes, scooters, skateboards, rollerblades, and other wheeled activities 
• Strengthen Larkspur’s active cycling and outdoor recreation community 
• Give local children, teens and adults a positive place to gather and build friendships

[Add a personal story or reason this project matters to you or your family. For example: how often your children ride, the lack of safe places for them to practice, or how a bike park would benefit your neighborhood.]

I respectfully ask for a formal evaluation of the former dog park site and support the next steps needed to determine whether it can become a community bike park.

Thank you for your consideration and your service to our community.

Sincerely,

[Your name]  

[Your neighborhood or connection to Larkspur]