Parks master plan draft favors Canton Lane and Centerville concepts; trail groups, land trusts to help with GIS and grants

Board members discussed the parks master plan working draft and related trail planning at the April 30 meeting, endorsing concepts for two key properties while asking staff and consultants to keep design language flexible to avoid locking the county into a single option.

Consultant materials and the working draft indicated the plan was prepared for the county by Great West Engineering and funded by the Broadwater County Trust Board. Kevin (consultant) had included a priority table in the draft; board members agreed to remove the priority ranking and instead use the master plan as a guiding, living document that groups can use when applying for grants.

For planning purposes, the draft recommended Concept 3 for Canton Lane and Concept 2 for the Centerville property as the most desired park designs to explore. Board members emphasized the need to leave wording open so future changes'for example, a decision on renewing leases for the local rod-and-gun club or future golf-course expansion'would not tie the county to a single layout. The board asked staff to add a generalized statement that designs may be altered as circumstances change.

Trails and grant partnerships: Board members reported on a separate trails meeting with local advocates. Al Kristofferson of the trails group met with the board and was joined by representatives of the Southwest Montana Mountain Bike Association; that group's chair, Zach, volunteered to digitize a GIS map of area trails to support grant applications and trail maintenance planning. Board members discussed river connectivity projects, including the Missouri River paddlers trail and concerns around the Toston bridge crossing; members mentioned the Montana Department of Transportation as a stakeholder in any crossing work and noted BLM's restrictions on concentrated trail facilities on some federal lands.

Board members said the master plan and a separate recreation survey together give community groups a stronger basis when applying for grants such as foundation programs and retailer philanthropic grants (examples cited: Home Depot, Walmart-style foundation programs). Dalerpa and other board members suggested outreach to groups such as the Prickly Pear Land Trust and Headwaters Paddlers Group to pursue grant opportunities and multi-agency coordination.

Next steps: The board asked members to compile comments on the working draft (track changes) and return them for consolidation; staff and consultant representatives indicated they would update the draft to remove the priority table and add more flexible language. The plan will ultimately be presented to the county commissioners for approval after the board's review.