Janet Ward is boycotting the Greenbelt nature trail in Southeast Boise, even though it has been a favorite haunt of hers for more than 20 years.

"I have essentially given up going there because it is too hard to access," she said. "It's kind of sad. I love that area, especially the heron colony."

As she has been trying to point out for years, there is plenty of parking access to the Greenbelt in Southeast Boise - if you don't mind trespassing, risking your car being towed, getting a ticket or paying to park.

This section of the Greenbelt, part of the city's pride and joy, has become a residents-only amenity, not a public amenity, Ward said. "That is what is so galling."

The 5-mile Greenbelt section from Boise State to Barber Park includes a nearly 2-mile unpaved, bike-free, nature path and a 24-acre natural area with a trout habitat area. In December, the city renamed a section of the unpaved pathway the Bethine Church River Trail.

But getting to that nature path and other parts of Greenbelt along the south side of the river can be a challenge - parking has been whittled away or is downright banned.

The warren of residential streets along the Boise River from River Run to Eckert are either private or do not allow on-street parking. The corporate offices lining ParkCenter Boulevard do not let Greenbelt users park in their vast parking lots, which sit empty most evenings and weekends. Barber Park has a large parking lot, but you have to pay to park there in the summer.

Ward lives in Southeast Boise, but being 69 with a bad knee means she needs to drive to and park near the Greenbelt for her regular walks.

She and a lot of neighborhood walkers used to park in a dirt lot at the end of ParkCenter, but the lot was closed last summer when construction began on the East ParkCenter bridge. No replacement parking was provided.

The city is aware of the difficulty accessing the Greenbelt from the new bridge area and is working to add interim parking at the city's Bown Crossing library site by the time the bridge opens in November, said Amy Stahl, Boise Parks and Recreation spokeswoman.

Ward tried parking at the city's Baggley Park off ParkCenter, then walking through the neighborhood to get to the Greenbelt. But she quit doing that because residents would stop her and ask her what she was doing walking through their neighborhood.

"I feel like I am being prevented from reaching the Greenbelt, which is a public park," she said.

She tried to find parking in the office parking lots. "Trying to access off ParkCenter Boulevard is a nightmare. All of those corporate lots with plenty of parking after hours all say essentially don't even think about parking here," Ward said.

BROKEN PROMISES

Ward's mission to get the public parking access to Southeast Boise's Greenbelt started more than 20 years ago when new subdivisions were being built along the river.

"Many, many years ago when River Run was built there was no public Greenbelt access. So when Spring Meadow was approved we were assured there would be public access, but it was a hollow assurance. There is access, but there is no parking," Ward said.

In 1992, after pressure from Ward, Southeast Boise residents and Greenbelt patrons, then-Mayor Dirk Kempthorne and the City Council decided public parking for Greenbelt access would be part of the East ParkCenter bridge project. The council adopted a resolution that allowed Greenbelt users to temporarily park in the dirt lot until permanent parking could be provided as part of the new bridge.

Ward has remained steadfast over the years in reminding the city of its obligation to provide parking access, but this last straw - closing the dirt lot last summer without providing temporary or alternate parking - proved too much. Ward has given up.

"We maintain that we were promised access. There was a resolution passed by the City Council. But I've since learned resolutions don't carry any weight," she said. "It is a real shame all the way around."

A NEARBY LIBRARY

There is some hope for the neighborhood, though.

The new bridge, which is slated to open in November, will not have Greenbelt parking on the south side of the river, but it will on the north side at Warm Springs Avenue.

The city plans to provide some permanent public Greenbelt parking at its new city library at Bown Crossing, but that's still a few years away.

"We are proceeding with plans to make improvements to the temporary lot on the site of the library at Bown Crossing with the goal of completing the parking lot when the bridge opens in the fall," said Stahl.

Ward hopes the city follows through on its promise, but she is skeptical.

She has been let down before.

Cynthia Sewell: 377-6428