A master plan was developed five years ago, and now the city is ready to hit the ground running on it.
Brynn Reynolds, assistant to the city manager, said a fast-tracking meeting of everyone interested is set for 5:30 p.m. June 16 on the top floor of the public library. Members of a council-appointed coordinating committee will lead it.
The intermediate goal will be to get ready to identify the top 10 trail sites and decide which ones should be built first, she said. A meeting on July 9 is set aside for those decisions.
No city funds have yet been set aside for hike-and-bike trails, according to Kim Foutz, assistant city manager.
The city hopes to tap into federal stimulus funds and other grant monies to pay for the projects.
The stimulus money is available only for a short period of time. It was appropriated by Congress to give the U.S. economy a jump-start by paying for infrastructure projects.
“That’s why this is a great time to get this plan under way,” Foutz said.
The committee’s recommendations should go to the council in early fall, according to a timetable released by the city.
Foutz said several developers in the Temple area have said they want to build trails into their landscape designs, but without a real plan in place they can’t.
This is a good sign of public acceptance of a trail system, said Jack Murphy, director of parks and recreation in Wichita Falls. That city has been building a hike-and-bike trail system for more than 20 years.
“At first there were fears that these areas would draw unsavory kinds of people,” Murphy said. “But, over the years that’s proven not to have happened, and now they are very popular.”
So popular, he said, that the city continues year after year to expand on the network. Right now, the city is building what Murphy called the most expensive leg of the trail system. It will cost $4 million, but it also must negotiate through some rough terrain.
Both Ken Higdon, president and CEO of the Temple Chamber of Commerce, and Lee Peterson, president and CEO of the Temple Economic Development Corp., said the trail system is an essential upgrade Temple must make.
“With us beginning to forge ahead into the biosciences, research and software development fields, this is the kind of amenity that people expect when they look to relocate for a job,” Peterson said.
Research has shown that young professionals, the kind Temple is trying to attract, find things like hike-and-bike trails very high on their list of wants in a community.
“It’s extremely important,” Peterson said.
The master plan itself suggests that a trail system:
nIncreases wellness
nIncreases safety
nDecreases pollution
Thus, the plan is designed to link neighborhoods with high-traffic employers and attractions such as the Temple Mall and Quail Crossing on Interstate 35.
City staff members have pulled together an inventory of existing trails and sidewalks and identified dirt paths as well as easements in preparation for the June 16 meeting, Reynolds said.
