CUMBERLAND — A new 2.3-mile pedestrian trail through Cumberland’s residential neighborhoods is back on track after a nearly two-year delay.
The Buck Creek Trail is planned to meander north and south through the city’s residential areas along the Buck Creek, connecting to the Pennsy Trail on the town’s south side. In the works for years, the project was recently dusted off the shelves because a paperwork snag at a state agency put a delay on acquiring land for the project.
Soon, 26 property owners will be offered money to use strips of their land for the project – mostly along their backyards in the floodplain. Town planners say they’re excited to see the project moving forward again; ground could break in the next two to three years.
“It’s a huge quality-of-life asset that we’ll have for most of our neighborhoods to connect to the trail,” said Christine Owens, town planner. “It also allows us to pursue more of our goals for a healthy community.”
Town officials are resuming work on the project where they left off in February 2013. Back then, a meeting was held to give residents a chance to look at plans for the project, complete with renderings that showed nature-themed touches, such as limestone signs and decorative cattails stamped into the benches.
Back then, few people showed up at the meeting; a couple of bicycle enthusiasts were excited about a new option to get around, while one homeowner complained about people getting too close to his home on the path.
Officials were all set to start offering money for property so they could begin work on the project. But by July of that year, there was a turnaround in staff at the Indiana Department of Transportation, Owens said, and plenty of confusion over what kinds of grants the community had in hand for the Buck Creek Trail.
“They came back and told us we had half the funding we thought we did,” Owens said.
“It took a really long time to walk through it,” town manager Andrew Klinger added.
At issue were three phases of grants and whether the value of land donated for the Pennsy Trail could count towards a local match for grant monies for the new trail.
Funding for the project came in three phases: A $1 million grant in 2008; a $1.1 million grant in 2010 and a $1.2 million grant in 2012. The federal grants require a 20 percent local match; since the Pennsy Trail was funded entirely with stimulus dollars, the value of the land donated for that trail – roughly $500,000 mostly from businesses like Meijer – could count toward a local match for the new Buck Creek Trail.
But Klinger and Owens said there was confusion last year on the types of grants the community had in hand, let alone whether money from the Pennsy could be applied to the new trail. Klinger said a meeting this summer cleared up the matter, and now Cumberland officials are ready once again to move forward.
Last month, a meeting to discuss the environmental impact of the project was held. Town officials are expecting INDOT to sign off on the environmental study this month; after that, property owners will start hearing about land acquisition.
The 12-foot wide trail would connect to the Autumn Woods, Cobblefield, Glen Oaks, Glen Oaks Village, Cumberland Village and Cumberland Falls neighborhoods; several smaller connector trails, called spurs, are also planned to allow for access for residents.
The town has $610,000 budgeted for right-of-way acquisition; Owens said she doesn’t know what to expect in the coming months from landowners. Some people might donate their land, while others might want to negotiate a higher deal. Eminent domain for road projects in Hancock County have proved contentious in recent years: the city of Greenfield and Hancock County have delayed projects while property acquisition was worked out in court.
Cumberland is using its design firm, Butler, Fairman and Seufert, to make offers to landowners. For the most part, Klinger added, the town is acquiring small strips of land on the rear portions of property.
“It kind of hugs the creek itself,” he said. “We have to acquire the property, but the property doesn’t have much use in most cases.”
The proposed trail also goes through Lions Park; on the north side it connects to the half-mile 21st Street Trail. When completed, Cumberland residents would have access to roughly six miles of trails because the Buck Creek Trail would connect to the path at 21st Street on the north and the Pennsy Trail on the south.
“It also plays into economic development,” Klinger said, adding that these types of projects could attract new residents to the community. “It’s the people that are important – the jobs follow the people.”
Grant money for the project is available for construction to begin in 2016, Klinger added, but the project might not break ground until the following year or two.