Trail committee to seek easement for first leg

The Hartley City Council on Monday told members of the recreation trail committee that any future help from the city would come after the group obtains a construction easement for the first leg of the proposed project.

Committee members approached the council during a special meeting to ask the city to create a trail taskforce to help plans move forward. According to discussion, the group needs to contact the landowner affected by the first leg of the trail, which would require a construction easement.

Trail committee members believed having the city's formal backing in the form of a taskforce would aid progress and help things move faster.

"We want this taskforce to create a good working relationship with the city, where right now we don't feel we have that," said trail committee member Nicole Shaffer. "We don't want to do it if you want to do it yourselves. We're not sure where to be at this point."

The first stretch of trail would extend westward from Neebel Park to Vine Avenue in the city's right-of-way along the south side of Third Street Southwest. The farmland that abuts the space is owned the Berry Family Trust. According to Shaffer, the group needs to contact the farm's manager, who would then contact the actual property owner.

Mayor Rodney Ahrenstorff believed it would be best for the trail committee to start making the initial contacts rather than the city. If and when a construction easement is signed, then the council would investigate establishing a taskforce and partnering with the committee on future grant applications.

Ultimately, the city would own the trail once it's constructed. Council Member Mary Westphalen, who was

on the city's pool taskforce several years ago, urged the trail committee to keep persevering.

"With the pool, we always felt like we were going two steps forward and 10 back," she said. "But you just gotta keep plugging away; you can't give up and don't get discouraged. I know that's really hard because you have spent a lot of time on this. It can become a reality, it's just going to take some work."

In all, the trail committee has raised around $142,000 in the past two and a half years. The first leg of the trail is expected to cost around $227,000.

"There's community support for this," Shaffer said. "It would bring a lot of benefits to the community."