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Nonprofit, county and town explore funding gap for Dooling Creek Trail ramp project
Summary
Anacostia Trails Heritage Area briefed Colmar Manor on a revised Newton Street Park ramp plan with a new estimated cost of $327,000; ATHA plans to apply for Project Open Space funds (due July 1) and may seek a legal agreement with the town and county to secure remaining funding.
Meg, executive director of Anacostia Trails Heritage Area (ATHA), updated the Colmar Manor Town Council on the Dooling Creek Trail project during the May 19 meeting, saying early planning and community input produced four trail paths and strong support, but site constraints and accessibility standards have increased projected costs.
ATHA secured $100,000 in predevelopment funds and $165,000 in construction funding through state recreational-trails programs and retained Pennoni as the consulting engineer to produce 100% design drawings and permitting materials. Meg said recent consultant estimates put the construction cost at approximately $327,000, roughly double earlier grant assumptions, largely because the plan moved from a simple wooden ramp replacement to a more custom, accessible trail through trees, slope and water features.
"When we were originally writing those grants... we thought that we were going to remove and replace the wooden ramp... through the process it was determined that replacing the ramp as is... would put us in the same situation where you'd have a deteriorating wooden ramp," Meg said, adding that Pennoni’s site analysis and permitting work guided the design change.
ATHA has identified Project Open Space (POS) funding at the county level as a likely fit and noted the town’s potential application is due July 1. Meg said ATHA would help with grant-writing and that any award could require a legal agreement among ATHA, the town and the county because of parcel intricacies.
Town manager Dan Spielman summarized that staff and ATHA are pursuing the best available funding options and asked the council whether staff should proceed with the POS application and coordination; council members signaled comfort with moving forward. ATHA indicated it would not put the project to bid until the funding gap is better defined.
Next steps identified in the meeting: ATHA and town staff will complete the POS application by the July 1 deadline and continue design work and permitting; ATHA will assist with grant-writing and seek potential legal agreements to secure the project’s construction-phase funding.
