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Powell presenters outline rail-with-trail pathway plan, seek $150,000 for planning
Summary
A local presenter told the City Council the rail-with-trail project has more than 1,000 petition signatures and $40,000 raised toward a roughly $150,000 planning phase; next steps include landowner surveys, engineered drawings and hiring a design firm before construction funding is sought.
The Powell City Council on Monday heard a presentation on a proposed rail-with-trail pathway that advocates said would connect neighborhoods, Northwest College and downtown and support local workforce housing and outdoor recreation-related economic activity.
Rebecca, the project presenter, told the council the pathway idea appears repeatedly in local planning documents dating to the city’s 1997 master plan and was reinforced in subsequent economic and transportation studies. She said a 2021 bicycle and pedestrian facilities survey drew several hundred local responses and that the team has collected more than 1,000 petition signatures supporting a rail-with-trail alignment; 64% of those signers came from Park County and 41% had Powell ZIP codes.
"Pathways are actually linked and alternative transportation is linked to home purchase decisions for workforce," Rebecca said, framing the project as part of broader economic development and housing strategies.
Rebecca described multi-year outreach and technical work: a 2022 AmeriCorps VISTA-led needs assessment, later work by local staff and consultants, and continued landowner engagement. She said the immediate goal is to raise about $150,000 for the planning phase and that approximately $40,000 has already been raised. That planning work, she said, would fund surveying, engineered drawings and engagement with a design firm that would prioritize user experience through constrained corridors inside city limits.
Construction costs were described as highly uncertain without survey-level designs. Rebecca said preliminary considerations include typical pathway widths (often cited as 15 to 22 feet in examples), possible fencing that would need to be wildlife-safe for crossings, and surface choices ranging from packed soil or wood chips to paved pathways. The presenter said community feedback favors a paved, safe pathway preferred by runners, cyclists, parents and older residents.
Next steps identified for the group included continued fundraising, completing survey and title work, hiring a design firm and coordinating a plan that could be handed over to municipal authorities for implementation. Council members asked whether the city would sponsor grant applications; Rebecca said the project team hopes to compile a single plan for both city and county to adopt and that fundraising would include grants, corporate giving and local dollars.
The council received the presentation for information; no vote was requested on the project at the meeting. City staff and the project team will return with formal materials after surveying and design work proceeds.
