Flathead County Commission gave the green light to begin requesting bids for the Sam Bibler Commemorative Trail Project on May 13, despite a $20,000 shortage in local matching funds for the project.
The trail, which is planned to run along Willow Glen Drive from FFA Drive to Woodland Avenue, has been in the works for years. Terry Welder, a member of the committee behind the trail, said it began raising money for the local matching funds five or six years ago.
So far, the group has raised $40,000, Welder said and he is confident the group can raise the additional $20,000. Welder also hoped the project could move forward with the bid requests.
“It seems a little unusual that part of the trail would be put off for $20,000,” Welder told the commissioners.
The project is split into two phases. The first runs from FFA Drive north to Woodland Avenue. The second navigates about 700 linear feet of the hill and would tie into the Kalispell’s Woodland Connector Trail.
The commissioners agreed to request bids for each piece of the project or the project as a whole, since there are currently only enough local matching funds for one piece of the trail.
“I think we need to award the whole thing,” Commissioner Joe Brenneman said. “We need to trust the community to fund it.”
Commissioner Dale Lauman said he viewed the Bibler Trail as an important piece of a trail system that should eventually tie into a trail system that heads as far south as Somers and Lakeside and that the Bibler project is close enough to having all the pieces together to start.
An engineering report brought the total cost of the project to $446,000. That money will come from the county’s share of the Community Transportation Enhancement Program (CTEP), which uses federal highway tax dollars to develop non-motorized transportation access for the public.
CTEP funds are distributed based on population, and when the cost for the Bibler Trail project is taken into account, Flathead County has a CTEP balance of $718,603.
These monies are of particular interest to the City of Kalispell, which has requested $118,000 of the county’s CTEP share to help finish the third phase of the Woodland Connector Trail, which would complete the link to the Bibler Trail.
“In the spirit of connecting the Woodland Connector Trail with the Sam Bibler Trail as early as possible, I am requesting your consideration in dedicating the county’s unallocated Federal CTEP funds to complete this segment of the combined trail system,” wrote Kalispell City Manager Jane Howington in a letter to the commission.
Howington wrote that it would take Kalispell two years to raise that much money from CTEP, further delaying the project.
The commissioners agreed to consider the financial transfer if cooperative funding between the government entities is taken into future consideration. That matter will be discussed and decided on later.
As one of the driving members of the group spearheading the Bibler Trail construction, Allen Sieler said he was pleased with how the meeting went.
“We’re going to be doing some serious fundraising,” Sieler said.
The trail project is dedicated in memory of longtime Kalispell resident Louis A. “Sam” Bibler, whose many restoration projects – including the Conrad Mansion – aimed at beautifying the city and maintaining community access to natural sites.
The Bibler Trail is currently the only active project funded by CTEP in Flathead County. The county Planning and Zoning Department is accepting proposals and letters of interest from community groups interested in sponsoring trails projects until June 1.
The group is required to contribute the local matching funds, which are roughly 14 percent of the total project cost. For more information, contact the Planning and Zoning department at 751-8200.
Donations to the trail can be sent to The Sam Bibler Commemorative Trails Project, P.O. Box 515, Kalispell, 59903.