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SYRACUSE – A special meeting was held Monday afternoon of the Syracuse Town Council to give council members the opportunity to ask more questions about a proposed trail project, so they’ll be ready to make a decision at their regularly scheduled meeting in April.
Town Manager David Wilkinson invited two engineers from JPR (Jones, Petrie, Rafinsky) Austin Blomeke, landscape architect, and Mike Voll, transportation division leader, who did a conceptual plan for the proposed project to attend the meeting.
The town was awarded a $500,000 Communities Amenities Project (CAP) grant, initially funded through the Orthopedic Industry Retention Initiative (OIRI) managed through the K-21 foundation. It’s a 50/50 match so the town would have to match the $500,00 for the project, something they were initially reluctant to commit to with the uncertainty of Senate Bill 1.
However, Wilkinson said if they don’t make a decision by April they may lose the grant money.
Doing a boardwalk trail like initially discussed would cost about $1.8 million so JPR presented the council with a more cost-effective plan. The trail will be on the east side of Ind. 13 and include an area known as the village. It would include Chicago on north end and Harkless on the south.
Blomeke said they would use the right-of-way to provide a pedestrian access and connect to existing trails. He told council they did a high-level study so they didn’t have a thorough topography survey, but they worked with Indiana Department of Transportation to learn what impact the trail system would have on stormwater flow, which is a key part to laying out the trail.
He said they broke the trail up into four sections —Chicago-Pickwick area where there are a lot of retail existing, Pickwick to Palm, Palm to Bowser and Bowser to Harkless. The engineers showed options for each section. In section A from Chicago to Pickwick, they changed from concrete to asphalt for cost savings.
In section B From Pickwick to Palm there are a couple of options — they changed from an elevated boardwalk to a curbed sidewalk from the original plan to an at grade walkway, eliminating the boardwalk has significant cost savings.
Councilor Paul Stoelting asked how much of a cost savings and Blomeke said the curbed walkway was $427,000 versus $1,866,000 for the boardwalk —a $1.5 million difference.
“Everyone loved the aesthetic and look of the boardwalk at our public meetings, but it comes down to cost,” Blomeke said.
Section three is at grade level with no curbs but has wider roads. Voll told the council, “When we say at grade it protects users with visual barriers and flexible posts with highly reflective to separate the trail from parking.”
Section four from Bowser to Harkless will continue the existing curbed sidewalk.
Council President Cindy Kaiser asked what the crosswalks would look like. Police Chief Jim Layne said they would paint it on the ground like a normal crosswalk, and they could use pedestrian hybrid beacons that flashes. They would specify that as part of the design and would be an additional cost.
Scherer said he’d like to see the section C with curbed walkway throughout the trail. “For safety and accessibility and it would look a lot better if it’s all the same.”
They discussed no motorized vehicles on the trail and Layne said that is pretty standard.
Kaiser said she liked the new total cost of $377,000 versus the original $860,000 and Councilman Bill Musser, who attended the meeting virtually, agreed. Kaiser asked Public Works Superintendent Mark Aurick, Police Chief Jim Layne and Wilkinson if they had any major concerns with the plans.
They each said no and then Wilkinson said, “This is something we’ve been talking about for at least 25 years. We have an opportunity here with the grant and if we kick it down the road again it’s just going to be more expensive.”
Scherer said, “It’s been talked about since I was in high school so that’s longer than 25 years.”
Kaiser agreed, “We’ve been wanting to do something with the village for a long time.”
Scherer asked if they agree to do the trail what would be the next steps? Wilkinson told him they’d have to put it out for bid for a construction engineer, come up with a master plan and start construction early 2027.
They plan to vote on the matter at their April meeting.
