Randy Royer, a landscape architect with Hitchcock Design Group, asked the Logansport Redevelopment Commission on the RDC’s behalf to support schematic design and surveying work that would enable a mixed‑use trail and possible short‑line rail reactivation on the city’s West Side. "Estimated cost for the schematic design is $61,100," Royer said, and he added the survey line item was about "$78,000."

Royer and other presenters said the project would connect new and existing trails — including the River Bluff Trail — provide safer walking and biking access for nearby schoolchildren and beautify a corridor that has been an eyesore. Michelle Taggart of Hitchcock emphasized safety and low‑maintenance landscape choices: the plan would "incorporate lighting" and native plantings that reduce long‑term mowing and upkeep.

Eel River Railroad representatives described interest from an investor who would lease or buy segments of the right of way to reestablish short‑line service. The presenters said separating trail and rail functions would be necessary where tracks are reactivated and that reestablishing a switching point at the Cole Hardwood terminus would require investment in signals. "We could lease the line only to him, or we could lease the entire line, or we could sell it to him," one Eel River speaker said.

Commissioners pressed on safety buffers between trail and rail, long‑term maintenance responsibilities and how a schematic design done now would hold up when grant programs reopen in several years. A member asked whether a cost estimate produced today would remain useful if construction funding is not available for three years; Royer replied the firm would identify components and add a contingency percentage to reflect future price risk.

The presenters framed the request to the RDC as a first phase: schematic design to test feasibility and provide order‑of‑magnitude costs, with later phases — construction documents, bidding and construction — to follow only if the RDC and potential funders choose to proceed. They estimated the trail segment at roughly 1.3–1.5 miles. The commission did not take a funding vote at the meeting and treated the presentation as an informational request that the board could revisit with clearer cost/phase options and scope.