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Residents press Littleton to stop planned concrete paving of Mineral Spur Trail; city warns changes could jeopardize funding
Summary
Residents and trail users urged Littleton officials to halt plans to replace the unpaved Mineral Spur Trail with a 16-foot concrete path, proposing a dual-surface alternative. City staff and the city manager said altering the plan now could risk state and partner funding and delay the project.
Residents and trail users asked the Littleton City Council on April 1 to halt plans to pave the Mineral Spur Trail and to adopt a dual-surface design that would keep a soft-surface path for pedestrians while adding a separate hard surface for cyclists and other users.
“Please don't keep saying it's too late to stop the paving project,” said Mark Flank, who described walking the corridor and finding a proposed 16-foot-wide concrete swath “absurd” in the open-space setting. Ned Stern told council the current plan would “destroy 0.7 miles of the railroad spur trail” and cited a city staff estimate that concrete work for the project would cost $750,000 with an additional $200,000 to widen an adjacent concrete path, for a combined concrete cost of about $950,000.
The push from speakers — which included Trailmark and District 4 residents, a civil engineer and other specialists who met with staff — focused on preserving the trail’s soft-surface character and avoiding what they described as a “landing strip” feel. Frank Atwood asked the council to issue a change order deleting the paving for the spur segment of phase 1, use CDOT funds on other phase‑1 work, and direct the phase‑2 consultant to review designs with public input.
City staff and the city manager told council that the project is funded through multiple partners and that making a change now could jeopardize approval and the funding package. The city manager said the current funding ratio is approximately four to five to one (non‑city dollars to city dollars) and warned that design changes would take many months and risk losing that leveraged funding. Staff said the project includes intersection safety improvements at Jackass Hill and Mineral and other mobility benefits that factor into the grant approvals.
No formal council action or vote to change the project was taken at the meeting. City staff said they will continue discussions with partner agencies, including South Suburban Parks and Recreation, and that they intend to work toward preserving crusher‑fin (soft) trails where possible during future coordination once partners have stable leadership in place.
Speakers emphasized that the dispute is not about stopping all mobility work in the Mineral corridor but about how the spur trail segment is surfaced. Several speakers proposed a dual‑surface approach that would add a crusher‑fine path alongside the new pavement so soft‑surface users would retain an option.
City staff asked the public to continue providing input and reiterated that changes at this stage risk losing outside funding and delaying the safety improvements included in the project.
What happens next: staff said they will continue coordination with funding partners and South Suburban Parks and Recreation and will report back to council; no schedule for a revised public design or change order was announced.
