I see nothing but trouble coming with that parking lot. This thread started off lamenting the loss of a great trail, and that was my real point. The DNV is going to continue to chip away until there are no difficult trails left on Fromme. I heard a rumour that the District had secured a grant to clear a fire break across the front side of Fromme. If that's true, the DNV will be messing with all of the lower trails. That's the only area left with any concentration of difficult trails.
But as for the parking lot, casual walkers and dog walkers are going to love it. No need to walk up from Dempsey just to start a walk. Now they can take Rover up for a run and a crap with much less effort. Imagine a nice summer weekend. The lot is full, cars are trying to get up the road because they don't know the lot is full, cars are trying to come down because they've discovered the lot full. Bikes are riding up. All on a road that's barely wide enough for 2 cars to pass. Solution will be more trees down, road widening, more character lost.
Also, parking is currently spread out. Most people park, ride up somewhere until they contact the access road, and then plan a ride that finishes somewhere near their car. But now, most of the cars will be parked in the same place, so most of the riders will be heading down the same trails to get back to the same spot! Baden Powell will funnel a lot of those riders back, and at peak times I could see it being one bike after another. I wonder how much the walkers will appreciate that?
One thing that I really don't understand in all this is why the DNV has chosen over the last 10 years or so to get so involved in managing the trails. A lot of other communities are completely hands off. They don't want the cost or the liability.
The parking lot has to be costing a good chunk of money, both to build and to maintain. The presence of DNV people up there is expensive. I don't remember trail maintenance on Fromme being a big election issue this past year. The District complains about a lack of money and a need to raise taxes. I can't imagine that non-bikers and people that live away from Fromme would see this as a good use of their tax dollars.
GET THE DNV OUT OF THE WOODS!!!