Red Bridge loses $500,000 county commitment

Grassroots efforts to restore the historic Red Bridge suffered a major setback last week when the Flathead County Commissioners voted unanimously to "unencumber" $500,000 in federal funding for the project.

County planning director BJ Grieve explained that the Community Transportation Enhancement Program money will not be reallocated to a specific cause but made available for biking and walking path projects around the valley.

"The Red Bridge could come back," he said. "It's not that we have a lot of money for these projects."

The First Best Place nonprofit group has spearheaded the local effort to raise funds and draw up plans for the bridge project, but its inability to raise money concerned the commissioners.

A preliminary estimate pegged the cost of restoring the 100-year-old bridge for use by walkers and bikers at $840,000, but a second estimate by HDR Engineering in March was $1.9 million. The commissioners decided in May to give First Best Place four months to come up with a work plan for the project.

The commissioners expected the work plan to describe how the organization planned to raise money and to take another look at the scope of the project - either stay with the original plan, divide the project into phases or terminate it altogether. The most recent estimate to remove the bridge is about $250,000.

On Aug. 1, First Best Place sent a letter to the commissioners saying the bridge "in its present condition is blight, a violation of the county's community decay ordinance, a life safety hazard - and a growing attraction for crime." The group expressed concern about the county's "lack of effort" in the development of working documents and its increasing liability.

There was talk by the county about withdrawing its commitment to the project, the group said, but "this is the county's property" and "none" of the county's share of CTEP money has been used in the Columbia Falls area. The group also said it was "logical" that money set aside by the county to remove the bridge could instead be used for restoring it.

The idea of combining the CTEP money with the demolition money was raised for a second time by the Columbia Falls City Council during their Sept. 19 meeting. City manager Susan Nicosia noted that locals accomplished something similar in Great Falls. She also referenced a suggestion that it might be cheaper to remove the historic bridge and replace it with a completely new footbridge.

The commissioners agreed that restoring the Red Bridge is a worthwhile effort but, as commissioner Dale Lauman put it, "$500,000 is a lot of money" and raising the other $1.4 million in this tough economy could be very difficult. He called the project's costs "overwhelming" and suggested the Columbia Falls community "is not big enough to support this project."

Commissioner Jim Dupont asked First Best Place executive director Barry Conger why his group hadn't come up with a proposal.

"We have a strategic plan, but it feels like a foregone conclusion," Conger replied, adding that media reporting caused the recent loss of $15,000 in donations.

Dupont disagreed, noting that e-mails from First Best Place prompted the media reporting.

When Conger suggested a "breakdown in communication" caused problems for the project, commissioner Pam Holmquist pointed out that the county had only received two letters from First Best Place over the past four months and no work plan.

"That was the lack of communication," she said.

The Hungry Horse News got a copy of First Best Place's development plan for the bridge from county planner Alex Hogle, who received it from Conger after the commissioners had already voted.

The plan's $1.2 million revenue goal includes $500,000 in CTEP money, $200,000 in in-kind donations, $200,000 in gifts and sponsorships, $100,000 from a federal Safe Routes To School grant, $50,000 from a Fish, Wildlife and Parks grant, $50,000 from a Safe Communities grant, $25,000 from a "buy a foot of bridge" fundraiser, $25,000 from events and $25,000 from restoration grants.

First Best Place so far has $51,000 in commitments, not cash. Its funding plan calls for raising $535,000 next year, including $150,000 from major donors. Another $60,000 would be raised in 2013, the plan states.

First Best Place claims it has a $50,000 commitment from the city of Columbia Falls for in-kind work, but Nicosia has pointed out several times that the bridge is outside the city limits. Instead, the city has said it would help by building a bike path from Fourth Avenue to the bridge, not repair the bridge. City staff have also expressed reluctance about taking over responsibility for maintaining the bridge.