11/9/11
The Insider has learned that City staff has told Council that it will not apply for a grant for a trail segment on Smithtown Rd. from the Victoria border to Minnewashta School. The reason given was the the City's part of the cost was going to be more than $400,000.
Let's review.
The whole Trail Plan, recently adopted by Council, was estimated to cost just over $700,000. The Smithtown Rd. segment is arguably less than 20% of the trails in the whole plan. Yet, including getting a grant, the City would have to pay out more than $400,000 for just this one segment.
So, the Insider asks: What is the real estimated cost of the entire Trail Plan?
For perspective, the City's annual expense budget is about $5 million. Adjusting the Trail Plan estimated cost based on just the $400,000 for 20%, the entire Plan cost would be more than $2 million or approaching 50% of what the City spends in one entire year. With this sort of price tag, how important should trails be in Shorewood?
Happy Reading!
The Insider
This is not new. There was always a significant cost to purchase the land along Smithtown which is why a previous council decided to provision a 4 foot portion of the road in lieu of an off road trail (although that strip has shrunk over the years). That was Zerby's idea. At what point will it become clear that retro-fitting an off road trail in established neighborhoods is both prohibitively costly and widely unpopular?
ReplyDeletePlease clarify - does the $400k also include right-of-way acquisition? Can't avoid the pun .. we've been down this road before. The "committee" that put this "plan" together either hasn't done their homework or is not asking the right questions of staff. Logic is lacking.
ReplyDelete