Healthy West Orange Trails group seeks renewed facilitation money and will fund a regional planning study
Loading...
Summary
Bike Walk Central Florida updated the Ocoee commission on the Healthy West Orange Trails Connection, highlighted $5 million for trail projects and a $500,000 facilitation fund that is expiring, and said partners will cost‑share to continue coordination; a network‑wide planning study will be solicited using foundation funds at no cost to partner cities.
Patrick Panza, operations director for Bike Walk Central Florida, told the Ocoee City Commission on Dec. 16 that the Healthy West Orange Trails Connection (HWOTC) is moving from planning into an action phase and asked partner cities to renew their support for the collaborative’s facilitation work.
"We were building framework," Panza said, summarizing five years of work by partner cities, the Foundation for a Healthier West Orange and other agencies. He said the original initiative included $5,000,000 for trail project implementation and $500,000 set aside for facilitation; the facilitation funds are now depleted and HWOTC seeks renewed contributions from partner jurisdictions to continue coordination.
The request matters, Panza said, because the group has designed a grant program that splits projects into small and large categories and has already distributed small‑project grants. He described recent accomplishments — trail safety audits, corridor evaluations, on‑the‑ground enhancements and development of design and policy guidelines — and framed the next steps as leveraging existing grant funds and state funding opportunities to maximize impact.
Panza also said the steering committee approved an RFP framework to solicit a network‑wide planning and design study for three priority loops identified in the HWOTC vision. "We will be soliciting for a network wide planning and design study for those 3 loops," he said, and added that the Foundation for a Healthier West Orange has agreed to apply some of the implementation grant funding to that study so it will come at no cost to partner cities.
Commissioners did not take formal action on the presentation. After the update, the commission members present thanked Panza and expressed general support; staff and the steering committee will continue coordinating next steps and the RFP process.
The update identified funding that remains for project implementation, urged cost‑sharing to maintain the facilitation role, and committed to pursuing state match and other grants to stretch available dollars.
