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Council briefed on Pathways to Play & Preservation millage work plan: sidewalks, park projects, reforestation and land bank funding
Summary
Staff outlined an accelerated rollout of projects funded by the Pathways to Play and Preservation millage, including an expanded sidewalk program, two flagship park redevelopments (Rotary, Red Run), a nature preserve trail, a pickleball facility feasibility effort, a goal to plant 15,000 trees and $5 million advance funding for land acquisition.
City staff provided a multi‑part update on projects funded by the Pathways to Play and Preservation (PPP) millage, emphasizing front‑loaded investments, project timing and the funding plan.
City Engineer Brent Bayshaw described two sidewalk streams: a citywide replacement program to repair damaged sidewalks and a separate sidewalk‑gap program to complete network connections. Staff said roughly 70 percent of original priority gaps are complete and proposed a five‑year schedule to finish remaining priorities; the recommended 2025 program would address immediate high‑priority repairs. Bayshaw noted the city is moving from a target‑area replacement model to a city‑wide asset approach based on a recent GIS audit that identified approximately 1,400 high‑priority locations and another 8,200 on a watch list.
Parks Director Kyle Langley reviewed the nature preserve trail (design and construction targeting fiscal 2027–28), the city’s effort to find an existing building to retrofit for an indoor pickleball/table‑tennis complex (target opening 2027), and the Rotary Park and Red Run Park redevelopment schedules (engineering and construction timed to have openings around 2027). Langley said the city is pursuing adaptive reuse where possible and has retained TMP Architecture for pickleball feasibility work.
Planner Alexis Richards outlined the reforestation plan: 1,200 street trees planted in 2024, about 3,400 trees planned in 2025 using grant funds, and a goal to plant 15,000 trees within seven years using PPP millage funding (roughly $600,000 per year in early millage years). Economic, environmental and social benefits were cited, and staff emphasized outreach to homeowners and focused plantings in disadvantaged census tracts first.
Development staff described an open‑space acquisition approach and announced an initial $5 million advance fund to acquire high‑priority properties, to be followed by matching annual allocations later in the millage period. Finance Director Jennifer Varney summarized the financing approach: a proposed bond package (roughly $40 million) to accelerate work, with an estimated annual debt service of about $3.6 million at a 4% interest assumption; staff said line‑item transparency would be shown in new PPP funds in the FY2026 budget and that the city would continue to refine design and cost estimates before bond issuance.
Ending: Councilors asked staff to consider resident requests for individual trees and to be explicit about maintenance responsibilities; staff said they will return with refined schedules, cost estimates and processes for resident tree requests and property acquisition criteria.
