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| Prince Rupert City Council will move forward with a grant application to help the Kaien Island Trail Society to refurbish the McClymont Trail system |
With Corinne Bomben outlining for Council members how the City could move forward to make an application for a rural development grant for trail development in the City.
The CFO had been tasked at the December 4th council session to review the grant opportunity, after the Kaien Trails Enhancement and Recreation Society had appeared at council to advise that owing to their relatively new status of their organization they had been denied their attempt to secure the grant.
As part of her review of the history of the city's past efforts for the McClymont Trail, Ms. Bomben traced how the City's diminished financial situation over the last fifteen years had left the city unable to maintain, or improve the trail system and that it had not been a priority for revitalization in that period of time.
However, with an increased awareness for trail options in the area through the City's Redesign project and the forward momentum that the Kaien Trail Enhancement and Recreation Society had found in the community for their projects, the availability of grant funding is now something that the City could consider
From her report, Ms. Bomben noted that the as part of the review of the situation and after meeting with representatives of the Trail Society, both they and the City had agreed that the best course forward is for the City to apply for the group, under the basis that the property is owned by the City and any design work should have significant input and oversight by the city considering that there are city utilities running alongside the trail.
Should the City receive grant approval, the City would manage the project and select a consultant to conduct the design and engineering work, the consultation process would include engaging with the public and stakeholder groups.
After completion of the design the next step would be the implementation of the plan with council's approval, the grant the City will seek is under the Rural Dividend Program Destination Trails program with a deadline of December 15th for applications.
The application is for a project budget of 100,000 dollars with $20,000 required by the City with a maximum of ten percent to be in kind.
The Trail Society has agreed to fund 15,000 dollars of the City's contribution, with Ducks Unlimited to provide for the remaining 5,000 dollars by way of in kind contribution.
That would mean that the City's cost to the design project phase, is that of staff administration and oversight time.
Following the Report, Council then voted to approve the recommendation to submit the application to the Fund, with Councillor Randhawa speaking in favour of the project. Mayor Brain thanked staff for putting together the proposal and noted that the Trail Society appreciated the assistance of staff as they are new to the process.
You can review her presentation through the City's Video Archive, starting at the 32 minute point.
The local Trail Society was recently added to the list of groups that will receive Community Enhancement Grant funding from the City, with Council approving their request for annual funding at the December 4th Council session, from that approval the City will now provide 7,000 dollars in funding for 2018.
The Society is currently working on the Rushbrook Trail project in conjunction with the local Rotary Club, they also have a wide range of other projects that they would like to see developed in the years to come around the region.
The proposal for the McClymont Trail was provided to Council by the Society back in May of this year, providing a glimpse of what the future connection from the Civic Centre to Cow Bay area might look like.
For more background on the work of the Kaien Island Trail Enhancement and Recreation Society see their website or Facebook page.
More notes related to Monday's City Council Session can be found here, while a wider overview of past City Council Discussions can be reviewed on our Council Discussion page.
Cross posted from the North Coast Review
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