Great Rivers Greenway outlines early plans for Brentwood connections; public open house Feb. 17

Great Rivers Greenway presented an early-phase schematic plan to the Brentwood Public Works Committee on Jan. 8, outlining potential shared-use trail alignments and community outreach steps for a multi-jurisdictional greenway.

"My name is Mara Perry, and I am a senior project manager for planning at Great Rivers Greenway," Perry said, explaining that the project is in schematic design and the consultant team is analyzing background and floodplain data to identify alignment alternates. She said the planning phase is paid for from Great Rivers Greenway’s 2025 budget and will culminate in a report that each community can accept or decline.

The project would aim to connect Brentwood Park and Lorraine Davis Park with destinations such as Deer Creek Preserve and the high school; Perry emphasized multiple alignment options and community input. She said Great Rivers Greenway has built roughly 140 miles of greenway in the region and tracks about 3,000,000 visits annually to existing trails.

Perry outlined outreach steps: focus groups convening at the end of January, a Brentwood open house on Feb. 17, a second open house anticipated in May and a planning report targeted for June. She said the team will return to communities after initial public input to refine alternatives and assess technical feasibility, noting some areas may not yield a feasible alignment.

Committee members asked about specific connections and funding. Perry said the schematic work will identify potential alignments and that additional design, permitting and site-control steps would require further approvals and funding decisions by each municipality.

The committee did not take action on the project; Perry encouraged residents to participate in upcoming meetings and said staff would share contact information for focus-group sign-ups.