By Kevin Boneske
Staff Writer
ASHWAUBENON – The village board approved a resolution Tuesday, Nov. 26, to submit a grant application to the Wisconsin Department of Transportation for the purpose of completing the West Main Avenue Trail from Sand Acres Drive to the Interstate 41 roundabouts.
If awarded, Parks, Recreation and Forestry Director Rex Mehlberg said the grant would commit the village to paying 10 percent of expenses eligible to be covered under the grant, plus right-of-way purchase and utility relocation costs.
Mehlberg said the project is too expensive for the village to do on its own with McMahon and Associates estimating the trail cost around $950,000, which includes installation of a box culvert as well as a pedestrian bridge across Ashwaubenon Creek.
“Those are fairly expensive-type items, which is the reason why we’re looking for these grants,” he said.
Mehlberg said funding would be available for the village’s share of the project through Tax Incremental Financing (TIF) District No. 4.
Trustee Mark Williams expressed concerns about the West Main Avenue Trail project’s possible right-of-way purchase and utility relocation costs that would be the village’s responsibility.
“That is going to be expensive, and I don’t know if I can support that right now until we get those numbers and see how much that’s going to be, because you’ve got about two miles of roadway there that you’re going to have to purchase,” Williams said. “We don’t know what it’s going to cost. It’s not part of the grant.”
To place the trail along the south of West Main Avenue, Mehlberg said the village would have to purchase 2-3 feet in addition to what is the current right of way.
“It’s not supposed to be that expensive, but another option… is we can also be using park development funds for right-of-way purchase and for some of these other expenses that the grant may not cover,” he said. “On top of that, we’re also going to be… resubmitting the TAP (Transportation Alternatives Program) application from the DOT, and that could additionally cover some of the expenses (that are) out there. There’s a couple different things at play here – funding mechanisms – where I’d think we’d still be okay.”
Village Manager Allison Swanson said receiving grant money would make the trail project more financially feasible with the use of TIF funds before the district closes, which she anticipates the village will be able to do in 2021 or 2022, based on current projections.
“Once that TIF closes, that opportunity will close, and then we’re looking at just funding that all on our own in the future at some point, just due to use and connectivity of that area,” she said.
Williams said he favors the trail project, which has been requested by residents in that area, but the wording about the village being financially responsible for right-of-way purchase and utility relocation costs doesn’t include that in the estimated $950,000 trail cost.
Swanson said the village isn’t looking to acquire “huge amounts of right of way” for the trail project.
“(I) don’t think that’s going to be the majority of the costs,” she said.
Swanson said the grant money “still far outweighs the other expenditures that we will have.”
Mehlberg said the purpose of the resolution is to apply for the grant, which if awarded, a more specific cost list will be presented to the board to move forward.
Village President Mary Kardoskee said she doesn’t want to “willy-nilly buy right of way from people and then we don’t end up putting that trail in.”
“The monies can come from TIF 4 before we close it out, otherwise it will be very costly to do this,” she said.
Public Works Director Doug Martin said the village could get estimates on right-of-way purchase costs upon being awarded the grant and then take a look at the trail project as a whole.
“You don’t want to expend the money on attempting to get the right of way, if you can’t get the grant,” he said.
Based on right-of-way acquisition costs, Martin said the board could decide whether to move forward with the project.
“It’s one of those unique projects in that you don’t want to expend too much money gathering stuff, if you’re not going to get enough money to make it worth your while,” he said.