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Subcommittee urges coordinated trail, sidewalk and wayfinding plan and asks council to maintain funding
Summary
A Park & Recreation subcommittee asked council to keep current trail funding levels, coordinate trail work with public works, and consider wayfinding and signage to improve pedestrian connectivity across Keller; the group pointed to a fund balance and upcoming ribbon cutting on April 6.
Jay, a park subcommittee member, presented the board with a strategic case to treat paved trails and sidewalks as a coordinated pedestrian network and to continue KDC funding for trail development.
Jay said Keller now has roughly 31 miles of paved trail and highlighted the Mount Gilead trail project, whose ribbon cutting was scheduled for April 6. He urged the board and public works to align trail plans, major thoroughfare maps and sidewalk maps so the city can achieve better connectivity and reduce redundant spending.
“Connectivity comes not only from the paved trails, but from being able to advertise it, being able to provide signage that directs people how to use it,” Jay said. He recommended wayfinding (signage and possibly an app) and suggested police and fire involvement to ensure emergency access and location identifiers for responders.
The presentation included funding context: the subcommittee said that KDC historically allocated an average that grew from about $250,000 a year in early years to about $533,000 per year in recent years for trails, and staff reported a trail fund balance in the neighborhood of $700,000–$800,000 available for projects. The subcommittee’s immediate ask was to maintain the current funding level while it studies integrated mapping and prioritizes next trail sections for construction.
Board members asked for practical next steps, including producing zoomed‑in overlay maps for one square mile as a proof of concept and pursuing strategic land acquisitions or an underpass to connect trail quadrants. Staff said design work is needed to make shovel‑ready segments and that construction costs vary; the sidewalk extension tied to the most recent trail segment had construction and design costs reported in the hundreds of thousands.
The subcommittee asked the board to endorse continued collaboration with public works and to seek council authorization to pursue integrated mapping, wayfinding and targeted land acquisition where appropriate. No formal action was taken at the meeting; presenters said next steps would include more detailed mapping and returning with financial estimates for wayfinding or large acquisitions.
