At 4:30am in the morning, Wed Sept 18th, after hearing from a blockbuster 111 residents (76 supporters, 35 opponents), the city council unanimously agreed to fund the feasibility and full construction of the Regnart Creek trail Option D. They also added a $150,000 fund to be disbursed to residents along the trail that they can use to mitigate the impact of the trail such as planting shrubbery, etc.

We would like to express our deepest gratitude for every single one of you who came together in support, spoke at the council, helped gather signatures, and more. Thank you, thank you, thank you. We couldn’t have done it without you!!!

Full text of the motion

Darcy Paul made the motion and Rod Sinks seconded it. Liang Chao fought it until the very last second, and then when she saw it was going to pass 4-1, she voted for it and it passed unanimously. This is the text of the motion.

I move that Council:

  • Direct staff to proceed with and allocate $2,100,000 for trail improvement option D of the Regnart Creek Trail design as described in Attachment G of the materials associated with this agenda item 9.
  • Allocate an additional $150,000 in excess of the cost of the selected option for landscaping or fencing for homes adjoining the trail to address privacy concerns, etc.
  • Adopt draft Resolution 19-115 amending the FY 2019/2020 Capital Improvement Program budget to increase the budget to perform design and environmental clearance services from $538,000 to $813,000.

This is a huge victory for us.

The trail is approved all the way through construction, so we will not need to come back at do another vote at 100% design completion. Here’s what Option D includes:

In the end, it took many months of hard work, many hours at the library gathering signatures, many emails to city council, much strategizing, 1,650 signatures, a couple hundred of us to show up for the final push, and 76 adults and 15 kids to speak in favor of  the trail.  We had ex-mayors, city commissioners, school board members, leaders in the community, and tons of ordinary citizens. It was amazing to see so many people come together. We did it!