TRAIL: RECREATION COSTS GROW EXCESSIVE

A Corps of Engineers official Tuesday warned Parks and Recreation Advisory Board members against placing too much emphasis on the recreation component of a federal flood control project here.

Wayne Miller, project manager for the Cape LaCroix Creek-Walker Branch flood control project, said the city at some point must curb costly changes in plans for a recreation trail that's part of the proposal.

Ken Eftink, Cape Girardeau's planning services coordinator, said the city already has spent the majority of the money it had allocated for the trail.

Miller said he's surprised at how much attention the recreation portion of the $35 million flood control project has commanded.

"You've got to let the main part of this project, which is flood control, proceed before you go on and plan out the recreation aspects," he said. "You can't have the tail wagging the dog."

Miller agreed to meet with park board members Tuesday after the board last month complained because the trail was narrowed from eight to six feet at the underpasses where it intersects William and Independence Streets.

The board members asked city officials if the underpasses could be widened and urged that similar plans to run the trail under Kingshighway and Bloomfield be amended.

But Miller said Tuesday that the initial plan for the trail called for a gravel or "chat" surface and grade crossings where it intersected with streets.

Eftink said the city's initial cost for the recreation component of the project was about $350,000, which doesn't include land acquisition.

The estimate included costs for construction of about three miles of trail on Cape LaCroix Creek and Walker Branch, development of a detention site north of the city with two miles of trail and other recreation features, and a four-mile connecting trail from Arena Park to the detention site.

Because of changes in the trail, which now will have an asphalt surface and includes underpasses, the city already has spent $190,000 for a segment of less than one mile along Cape LaCroix Creek, Eftink said.

Miller said none of the changes in the trail's plan "ever seem to end up costing less."

But Jay Crosnoe said he and other board members "felt slighted" because they were unaware that the trail would be narrowed from eight to six feet at the underpasses.

"We've been slighted in the sense that these areas, if anything, should be wider than the rest of the trail for safety purposes," he said. "On a six-foot trail, people can't hardly get by to cross when they meet, and we had no idea that it would be six feet until after the fact."

Crosnoe said he'd rather see a shorter trail done right than to have portions compromised for the sake of the entire project. "When you put in a six-foot underpass, it's actually a useless pass underneath the bridges," he added.

But Miller said the underpasses are only a small portion of the overall trail. He said he thought that, if anything, the underpasses would provide a useful "diversion" for users of the trail. He said appropriate signs could be posted to help insure safety.

Miller said he's examined a 25-mile recreation trail in Washington, D.C. that gets ample use and nowhere is wider than five feet.

"It's nothing even close to what we're building here," he said. "It doesn't even compare to the quality of trail we're going to have."

Miller said the city might be able to widen the underpasses later, but that the cost to do the work now likely is excessive.

"We're just being besieged on this with extra costs," he said. "The cost for just one mile has tripled what was originally the estimate for what was initially three miles."

Eftink has repeatedly stressed there is a limited amount of money available for the trail, which costs an average of $25,000 to $27,000 per mile. He said the higher costs already have eliminated most, if not all, development plans for the detention site.

The city has about $160,000 left to extend the trail up Cape LaCroix Creek, through Arena Park to the detention site. The Walker Branch portion of the trail has been dropped, Eftink said.

The Corps and city evenly shared the costs for the section between Bloomfield Road and Arena Park. The remainder of the trail will be funded solely by the city from revenue derived from the quarter-cent sales tax voters approved in 1988 for the flood control work.

David Willis, who owns an apartment complex on Independence Street, attended Tuesday's meeting and said he was concerned that the trail will run within five feet of a swimming pool for the apartments.

He asked the park board and Eftink to instead plan for the trail to cross the creek just south of his property onto city-owned land in Arena Park.

"You could use your own property for the trail rather than having to buy my property," he said. "My fear is with people coming through there making rude comments about girls laying out at the pool, throwing things in the pool or unauthorized use of the pool."