County seeks grant for bike trail network
Jun. 28—Cumberland County will seek a grant to develop a bike trail network in the community through the Tennessee Three Star Grant program.
The program offers grants of $50,000 over a two-year period to help communities achieve goals related to workforce development, industry recruitment and economic growth.
"With a bike trail, you can spend as much as you get," Rebecca Stone, chairperson of the Joint Economic Community Development Board, said during the June 7 meeting.
The board includes representatives from the city of Crossville, county government, local industry, businesses and private citizens.
A series of video conferences held in April identified four community goals. The JECDB was tasked with identifying an educational goal to report on quarterly, a goal for the grant program and a third goal.
The four identified goals were:
—Develop an apprenticeship/internship program
—Improve engagement with the Farmer's Market
—Develop a bike trail program
—Conduct a feasibility study, engineering and design of community event space
Cumberland County Mayor Allen Foster asked if bike trails could be integrated with the Crossville Greenway, a network of trails around the city.
Crossville City Manager Greg Wood said the existing trails were not wide enough for multi-use trails.
Beth Davis, with Foster's office, said the discussion during the video conferences had been to develop trails with a crushed stone base that tied places together, perhaps connecting Obed River Park with Centennial Park.
Gregg Upchurch, with the Cumberland County Extension Office, said he would love to see the community develop bike trails.
"Most all of these cities that you go into that are a little bit more progressive in terms of engaging the community outdoors all have some type of good trail system that you can walk, you can ride, you can push a stroller," he said.
Upchurch added there needed to be consideration for using bike trails to tie communities together allowing — for example — someone living in Homestead to ride their bike into Crossville.
Crossville Mayor James Mayberry said, "You might not be able to complete a full plan, but if you can get started and move forward with it — that's a start."
Others mentioned old railroad beds that other communities have converted into trails. However, parts of the abandoned railroad property have been returned to private property owners. Another problem is different railroad companies retain rights to railroad property on the east and west sides of Main St.
Crossville City Councilman Scot Shanks said a potential trail from Monterey to Crossville on the former railroad route needed to be explored.
"Every day we wait, it becomes more impossible," he said.
Malena Fisher with the city of Crossville said the two-year grant could begin with mapping a bike trail project and develop a plan and then go from there.
The group unanimously agreed to apply for a grant for a bike trail project.
In discussion of the other goals, Tennessee College of Applied Technology at Crossville President Cliff Wightman said TCAT is already an approved apprenticeship program. It works with industries to train workers in production technician and customer service certifications, with grant funds available to pay school tuition and fees.
"We already have that in place," Wightman said.
Graduates get a guaranteed interview with partner industries.
Other than tuition and fees, Wightman said he didn't know of other costs the program would incur because it was already up and running.
Stone said, "That's a great goal, but if the funding mechanisms are already there it may not be the grant goal."
Wood said the feasibility study for event space could be a duplication of effort with the city's current work toward building an indoor recreation center. The county completed a feasibility study many years ago for a proposed Expo Center, but the county commission abandoned an updated study several years ago when it learned it could not charge a food and beverage tax to fund the project.
The goal for engagement with the Farmer's Market was a good goal, members of the board said, but might not be the best option for a grant proposal.
"I don't know if I see a lot in terms of grant dollars," said Upchurch. "That could be communication and organization."
That engagement effort could tie in with a study of community event space, as well, especially since it has ample parking available at the Cumberland County Community Complex.
The grant application was due June 11 to the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development.
Heather Mullinix is editor of the Crossville Chronicle. She covers schools and education in Cumberland County. She may be reached at hmullinix@crossville-chronicle.com.
