The possibility of opening Tryon Park to off-road cycling could draw a large crowd to an upcoming county Parks Advisory Committee meeting.

The meeting, which will focus on the Ellison Park Area Master Plan, is scheduled for 6 p.m. on Tuesday, November 25, at Penfield Town Hall, 3100 Atlantic Avenue. It will start with a community workshop, then a consulting firm hired by the county - EDR - will present its recommendations. A question and comment period will follow. The consultant's draft recommendations are available on the county's website. There's an outline Park to off-road cycling is one of those recommendations, and it's been a controversial idea. The mountain biking community is pushing hard for it while other recreational groups and environmentalists oppose the idea. Both sides are calling on supporters to come to the meeting.

Even if that recommendation gets included in the final master plan, that doesn't automatically open Tryon's trails to bikes. County parks law contains a blanket ban of bikes on trails. It will take an act of the County Legislature to reverse the ban, even in part.

But cycling isn't the only issue that the recommendations address. They call for a dog park in Ellison, too. A citizens group has raised enough money to build it, said County Parks Department director Larry Staub during a recent Legislature committee meeting.

The recommendations also call for new canoe and kayak launches and landing areas.