City parks budget gets new focus

Saying River's Edge Park has received a lot of attention and money the past few years, the Columbia Falls city councilors agreed to direct the parks capital improvement budget to other areas of the city, including the Talbott Road neighborhood.

Much of the discussion at the council's June 20 meeting was about a plan for a "primitive path" from Columbus Park down to Third Avenue East and River's Edge Park.

The plan, which was developed at no cost to the city by city resident Darin Fisher, calls for use of volunteer labor, in-kind donations and about $50,000 from the city to construct a 1,000 foot long path across the steep hill. An earlier engineered plan had an estimated cost of $600,000.

Fisher's plan includes about 500 feet of retaining wall, a trail width of 3-4 feet, a target slope of 10-15 percent with places reaching 25 percent, and two switchbacks offering views of the Flathead River and Columbia and Teakettle mountains. The path would not be intended for bicycle riding and would not be ADA-compatible.

City manager Susan Nicosia asked the councilors to consider whether they wanted to commit $50,000 to another city path and the consequences if donated services and materials did not come through.

"I looked at the concept and it's a good idea," she said. "But is it a priority now?"

Councilor Dave Petersen, who showed the most support for the primitive path, asked about shifting money from Phase 2 of trail building at River's Edge Park to Fisher's proposal as a way to lower the city's cost.

Phase 1 at River's Edge Park will be completed this year - converting an existing dirt road along the park's northern boundary to an ADA-compatible gravel path. Phase 2 called for a path running south along the Flathead River, but Nicosia pointed out that a "solid phase by phase" plan for developing the park has never been developed.

Funding is in place to extend city sewer and water to River's Edge Park for a future rest room and to serve the existing community garden, Nicosia said. Crews were just waiting for groundwater levels to drop before starting construction, she said.

"We've spent $90,000 down there," mayor Don Barnhart said. "We need to hold off there. We should focus on other city parks, including Pinewood Park."

The councilors agreed with the mayor. Mike Shepard said he'd like the city to look for grants that could pay for the primitive path, and Julie Plevel noted that the primitive path wouldn't be used by many residents.

"I don't want to discount the primitive path," Petersen said, "but maybe the price is too high."

Noting that much of the city's parks funding has come from cash-in-lieu payments by subdivisions between Talbott Road and the Flathead River, Nicosia suggested more park development in that neighborhood, which includes Riverbend Park at Fourth Avenue, Clare Park, Veterans Memorial Park and the ball fields at Horine Park. She also noted that $20,000 for underground sprinkling at Horine Park had been diverted to River's Edge Park.

Agreeing to put money aside for the Talbott Road parks, the councilors turned their attention to vandalism at public rest rooms, including two portable toilets set on fire at River's Edge Park. Instead of moving the portable toilets inside the park fence, Shepard suggested using inexpensive "trail cameras" to digitally record the vandals.

"I guarantee you will catch these guys," he said. "We could have used them on the Shay Engine," he added, referring to the historic locomotive at the end of Nucleus Avenue which vandals set on fire.

Police Chief Dave Perry and the other councilors readily agreed with Shepard's idea.

The councilors also learned about difficulties with this year's construction of the Third Avenue East walking path, which will link U.S. 2 with River's Edge Park. Apparently the roadway is not aligned with the city's rights-of-way, and the path may have to run on the west side halfway down Third Avenue, then on the east side to Fifth Street, and then across Fifth Street the rest of the way to the park.

Nicosia noted the project will use up seven years worth of the city's share of federal CTEP funding at $17,000 per year.