A trail spur connecting North Creek Presbyterian Church with the North Creek Trail could be in jeopardy.
On Tuesday night, a majority of the Mill Creek City Council refused to spend any additional city money beyond a $240,000 federal grant the city received to build the spur and a bridge crossing North Creek. The cost of the project has now jumped to more than a half-million dollars.
Instead, the council insisted that city staff ask the church if it would cover the $225,000 difference to build the trail spur, without an additional link to a picnic site.
The cost was driven higher because of additional environmental studies required because of the federal grant. Assistant city engineer Scott Smith told the council that the cost could be reduced somewhat by eliminating the side trail to a secluded picnic area and changing the style of the bridge.
“It seems like it should be a simple project,” Smith said about the spur, which would be only about 350 feet from the main trail to the church. “But it’s not because it crosses the creek and a wetland. That’s the big flaw in a seemingly simple project. We didn’t look at all of the environmental issues.”
Council members Mary Kay Voss, Dale Hensley, Mike Todd, Rosemary Bennetts and Mark Bond were adamant about not spending more than $200,000 in city funds to build the short trail spur, which is in the city’s capital improvement plan. City Manager Steve Nolen said the city could find the funds to complete the project, but it would have to be at the expense of other public works projects the city has planned.
“It’s not worth it to me,” Hensley said. “I’m for canning this thing and reapplying for grants.”
Voss, meanwhile, said she couldn’t justify spending that kind of money on a trail spur that “90 percent of the citizens will never use or see.”
Todd agreed, saying “I don’t know if this makes sense. For a half million dollars we can put in a lot of other trails.”
Bond had a somewhat different view, in part because the trail spur has been sought by North Creek Presbyterian as a way for members who can’t park in the main lot to walk to the church from elsewhere, such as the Imperial Gardens parking lot. Bond said that the trail would be used, but mainly on Sundays before and after services.
“What are the citizens getting?” Bond asked. “A trail that they may or may not be interested in?”
Another reason the spur was proposed was to give the North Creek Trail a true trailhead in the city’s south end. Currently, the paved trail begins from a sidewalk between Imperial Gardens and a stormwater detention pond.
Councilman Terry Ryan suggested the city fund part of the cost, but his idea found little support.
“I don’t want us to walk away completely,” he said. “I’d like to find a way to get it done, with the help of the church.”
No one from the church was at Tuesday’s meeting. Church members told the council during a public hearing last year on the capital improvement plan that the church would be willing to contribute volunteer labor to the project.
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