Carpentersville puts brakes on bike track

Liability issues and concerns about disrupting the neighborhood have forced the Carpentersville village board to backpedal on a plan to build a BMX bike track on a vacant lot on the village's east side.

The Dundee Township Park District's risk management agency wanted to include language in an agreement that the village's attorney deemed superfluous, Village Manager Craig Anderson said.

"We didn't feel it was necessary to put other language in there to give the village more liability than we already have," Anderson said. "We already have insurance, and if something happens on the property that is leased to the park district - either through negligence or accidental - we would be liable. The language was a concern."

The park district and the village had proposed a bicycle pump track on a piece of village-owned land near Fire Station I and the public works building on Spring Street. A pump track is a loop of hills and other obstacles for mountain bike riders. The village would have leased the property to the park district, which was also a cause for concern. Anderson said because of the nature of the park district's programs and facilities, the district has immunities that the village does not.

In addition, Anderson said, the location is not ideal.

"There were also issues about noise and dirt," Anderson said. "It was maybe not the best spot in the world for the track."

Trustees said they were disappointed with the outcome.

"There is not a whole lot to offer young people in Carpentersville," Trustee Patricia Schultz said. "They have to go beyond Carpentersville to find things to do."