The East/West trail from Shepard Blvd./Old 63 to Wilson park/East Campus will NOT be on the City Council agenda for our Sept. 16 council meeting. This trail would be ADA accessible to the east, run north from the roadside park, wind down the slope to an easement and clearing behind Valley View Dr., and then across the creek with one bridge to University Property and Wilson Park. This is the trail proposal that we have worked on with Shepard neighborhood representatives and discussed at neighborhood association meetings for the last several years, waiting for funding.
Funding is now available and this route will soon come before the City Council to approve. Staff is working on a report that will also include the pros and cons of this route vs. the previous Council-defeated route, which was a more north/south route connecting Wilson Park to Bluffdale. That plan required the building of three bridges and pavement along Hinkson Creek, south to Stadium. City Councilman Ian Thomas, former director of Pednet and others are pushing for the reconsideration of the former proposed route.
As your City Council representative, I would like to meet with the Shepard Neighborhood Association members interested in this issue and to look at the maps and go over the tentative new route, review the former route, and discuss the pros and cons of each route. I will check to see if the Unitarian Church is available Monday, Sept. 30 or Oct. 1 at 6:30 or 7 p.m. If not, I will find a room at City Hall that we can meet at. Please email me to let me know if you are interested in attending and which date(s) you can attend.
Barbara Hoppe
6th Ward City Council
424-9668
ward6@gocolumbiamo.com
