Clearing the way

By LYNNETTE HINTZE/Daily Inter Lake

Officials ponder maintenance of new Evergreen bike path

The unusually heavy snowfall this winter has pushed an Evergreen neighborhood issue to the forefront: Who will maintain the new pedestrian and bike path between U.S. 2 and East Evergreen Elementary School?

The county road department, already understaffed and on a tight budget, doesn't have the time or money to keep the snow cleared from the mile-long trail.

"We weren't given resources to maintain the path," county Public Works Director Dave Prunty said.

Neither does the Evergreen School District, Superintendent Joel Voytoski said.

A meeting is planned at 10 a.m. Jan. 28 at the county commissioner chambers to give school and county officials and the Evergreen Community Partners - the neighborhood nonprofit that spearheaded fundraising for the path - a chance to hash out the maintenance issue.

"It's a major issue," said Darla Harmon of Evergreen Community Partners. "We need to get something figured out."

IN THE meantime, the county got help from two Evergreen residents on Thursday to get the snow hauled away from the path. Lee Clark of Little Dog Trucking and Lance Vitt of Vitt Hauling donated their time, fuel and dump trucks while a county crew scraped away the encrusted snow and loaded it into the trucks. It took about four hours to finish the job.

"We did it more than anything for the kids," said Clark, who walks the path daily with his wife and has a 4-year-old grandson who enjoys playing at the nearby school playground.

The path is used heavily by school children on the way to and from the elementary school.

Prunty said the two men offered to help as he and other county officials were sizing up the job this week.

"It was pretty obvious we just needed to get it done," Prunty said. "And with the break in the weather we've had we could do it. But I can't commit those resources when the snow is flying."

Adding to the plowing dilemma is the lack of space for the cleared snow. The path is located adjacent to East Evergreen Drive, with no room between the path and street. One idea, Prunty said, is to put the cleared snow on the south side of the street, but then residents on that side would have to deal with bigger snow berms.

The 1.1-mile path was built with federal transportation money, which paid for 86.58 percent of the project, and a local match of 13.42 percent from Evergreen Community Partners. The county didn't contribute to the construction costs, although it may end up paying for last-minute modifications that weren't anticipated, the county planning department indicated.

The path is on county right of way, so ultimately the responsibility for maintenance lies with the county.

Harmon said that the school district's maintenance worker told her he believed he could handle the snowplowing because he uses snow-clearing equipment and travels between the elementary and junior-high schools.

"But the snow this year was not typical," she said.

Voytoski said the school district has not made a commitment to maintain the path and has neither the personnel nor the equipment to handle it.

Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by e-mail at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com