×

Webster County, FD seek more trail funds

‘Trails are a wanted necessity in communities’

More trails are on their way to Fort Dodge and Webster County, if local officials can get the funding.

The city and county are now seeking a federal grant to complete two trail projects — paving the gravel trail around Badger Lake in John F. Kennedy Memorial Park, and adding a new trail to connect the Snell-Crawford bike trail to the trail that goes from Fort Dodge to Kennedy Park along North 15th Street.

“Trails are a wanted necessity in communities,” said Webster County Conservation Director Matt Cosgrove. “They’re attractive to employees and HR people, they’re also good for our health, but they’re expensive. That’s why we try to find these grant dollars, to leverage a small amount of local investment to get those state and federal grants.”

Webster County and the city of Fort Dodge will each commit $150,000 toward the project, he said.

The Fort Dodge City Council approved a resolution in support of the grant application at Monday night’s council meeting.

The hope is to receive $700,000 through a Regional Transportation Enhancement Trail Grant. Fort Dodge and Webster County will be competing with six other counties in the region.

“The last time we used this application, we were successful, and that’s what paved our portion of the trail heading out to Kennedy Park,” Cosgrove said.

The Snell-Crawford nature trail heads out of town along Soldier Creek and dead ends at 170th Street, Cosgrove said. That trail will be extended along 170th Street to the existing trail along the city’s 15th Street that runs out past Fort Dodge Regional Airport to Kennedy Park.

Paving the trail around the lake has been in the county’s plan since 2002, Cosgrove said.

“That trail sees a significant amount of use, and this time of year with the frost going out it makes the trail a little messy. It will increase the use of the park,” he said. “And it will provide more access for people with mobility issues.”

The plans follow a trails workshop held last week, and a trails master plan finished last April.

Applications for the grant are due Friday, and the county should know within a couple weeks if the grant has been awarded. These grants are scheduled a couple years out, Cosgrove said, and the construction project would be set for 2021.

In addition to a grant for a trail along 170th Street, the supervisors also approved a grant application for a repaving project on 170th Street itself.

The road, known also as County Road D14, would be repaved from P56 to P71, along the north side of Fort Dodge.

If the grant is received it would be for the federal fiscal year 2023, Webster County Engineer Randy Will said. Fort Dodge would pay a portion of the matching funds, while the county would pay the majority, since parts of the road are in city limits.

This stretch of road is about eight miles, and was last resurfaced in 2003. Between 620 and 2,540 vehicles per day use the road to network with Fort Dodge, Duncombe, Vincent, Hamilton County and Wright County, Will said.

The supervisors also signed their annual farm lease with Iowa Central Community College.

The farm land is used by ag students to give them hands-on learning working on a farm, said Supervisor Keith Dencklau.

When the county rented out a farm near the Cargill plant, it took bids on that farm land, Dencklau said. The cash rent for the college’s farm is based on what they got for that land, but with a bit of a discount, since Dencklau said taxes don’t have to be paid on the farm land rented to the college.

The lease this year was for $210 per acre, or $50,400 total.

Last year the farm was leased for $200 per acre.

Newsletter

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *

Starting at $4.62/week.

Subscribe Today