Des Moines County Trails Committee mapping out a plan

Sun April 23 2006
Posted Apr 23, 2006
6,581

Community group working with architects to determine best possible route. By SHAWNA RICHTER srichter@thehawkeye.com Imagine a 15–mile trail stretching from the Port of Burlington to Big Hollow with plenty of scenic pit stops and historic and cultural landmarks. On Thursday, the Des Moines County Trails Advisory Committee tried to create just that by mapping out possible routes for a trail for pedestrians, runners, bicyclists — basically, anything without a motor. "There is no determined route," said Andrea Chase, with the Southeast Iowa Regional Planning Commission. "This is still very preliminary." At this point, people are still getting confused between the committee and the Nature Trails Committee that completed a 1 1/4–mile–long trail off Y Camp Road in 2003. When the Nature Trails Committee encountered land–owner issues, its trail came to a halt. However, with $500,000 in Vision Iowa funds, the Southeast Iowa Regional Planning Committee formed its own trail group to consider building a crushed limestone or paved trail through Des Moines County. At Thursday's meeting, the advisory committee and community members tried to create trails that would interest people in the area. "We want to create a journey, not a destination," said Meg Flenker of Flenker Land Architecture Consultants. To do that, Flenker told them to focus on places like an old stone school, historic cemeteries and bridges and farmsteads. She said to focus on sounds and smells to create an environment, an experience, that people remember and want to come back to. At the same time, the committee should create a safe environment, Flenker said. To do that, the committee needs to look at land constraints such as flood plains, ravines, major highways and other topography. They also need to consider landowners and their views of a trail running through a portion of their land. Using red, green and yellow dots, the committee members marked both opportunities (interests) and constraints (land issues) on their maps. Breaking into three groups, they mapped out six different possible routes. Over the next month, Kent Rice of French–Reneker–Associates — the contracted company for the project — and Flenker will put each of those routes on a display map. "We will take the information and put it with our own knowledge, too," Flenker said. She and Rice will drive the routes, looking for the positives and negatives. At the group's May meeting, the committee will discuss those options and decide on a route. A June meeting will be open for public input. After that, Rice and Flenker will draft a preliminary report outlining advantages, disadvantages and cost estimates. From there, the committee can decide if they want to proceed with the proposed route or consider a different one. Then the group will ask the community for its input again. If everything runs smoothly, construction for the trail will start in 2007, said Mike Norris, transportation director with the Southeast Iowa Regional Planning Commission. The property deadline for the trail is in 2008, which has been set at the project's completion date. However, the committee may hit some road bumps. If the route runs along Y Camp Road, Gene Myers and Virginia Crawford plan to protest the trail, which they said will harm their business, a paintball store and range. Paintballs could hit bike riders by accident, the continuous "pop" of paintball guns could be distracting or scary for trail users — a safety issue — and the continuous bike traffic could create dust problems for their home and shop, they said. They also believe the trail could put them out of business. According to Andrea Chase, trails typically encourage economic growth. But for the Burlington pair, the trail also seems to be a personal infringement — they live in the country for a reason. "I don't want people driving through my front yard," Crawford said. Chase said the committee hopes the trail will connect the city and the country — not create problems. If the proposed trail becomes a reality, it will be the first of its kind in southeast Iowa, and it would become the model for all other trails built in the future to form a regional trailway. (They hope Geode State Park will be the hub of the regional trailway.) The committee has not established a projected price range or cost for the trail, but it has applied for state and federal grants to fund the trail project. The next meeting to discuss the trail will be 4:30 p.m. May 4 at Memorial Auditorium.