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 Aukamp told the council what he was proposing on this evening was
a trail program for the city of Lincoln. He said he also had a
similar program for the city of Atlanta. He was offering the plan to
the council for review, asking they take the next two weeks to
review it, offer up any comments or suggestions; and then vote to
approve it. He noted that he would like to take the city’s approval
back to the Regional Planning Commission for a final vote on
September 2.
Mayor Scott Cooper asked if there would be any public information
meetings regarding the new bike trails. Aukamp said there could be
if that is what the city indicated they wanted.
Jonie Tibbs said she was happy to see the project was still moving
forward.
Aukamp in response explained that it has been a long process, but to
do the project right, takes time. He said it was a complicated
process and what he and the Planning Commission had done was start
with the easy things that could be accomplished without a huge
amount of money. He added that the long term goal is to have trails
across the county and even some off-road trails, but that takes time
to develop.
 Michelle Bauer asked about how the project to date had been funded.
Aukamp said that the first round, or step, of the process had been
to create a Bicycle Trail Master Plan. The development of that plan
had been paid for by an Illinois Department of Transportation grant.
Going into round two, Aukamp said again the Planning Commission had
been awarded a second IDOT grant. However, a few months into the
process, that grant had been rescinded. Aukamp said the Planning
Commission opted to continue using its own funding to develop the
plan that was now being presented to the City.
Aukamp said that at this point, the next step, marking the streets,
and putting up the signage would have to be a city expense. However,
he noted that the expense should not be a great deal. Todd Mourning
asked if this step was something the city street department staff
could do. Aukamp said he would speak to the availability or the
ability of the street crew, but he would think that, yes, it was
something the street crews could do themselves.
He noted that the plan he was submitting to the city offered a
variety of routes that would take bikers throughout the town, and
draw attention to local attractions, linking them all together via
the streets and roadways that had been determined to be the safest
routes for bicycles.
Tibbs wondered about the signage. She said it would be nice to use
signage with a little more character. She noted marking the trails
with decorative wood signs such as old barn wood, would tie the
trails to the heritage of the city as an Abraham Lincoln tourist
location.
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City Administrator Clay Johnson said he believed that there would be
certain signage that was required by the state, and the city would
have no options on those. However, he also noted there could be
locations where the signage could be different, and a little more
“dressed up.”
Mourning asked about the plan to utilize the old interurban rail path as a bike
trail. Aukamp said that was still a goal of the Bike Trail Committee. If
accomplished that old path where the Interurban track once laid between Lincoln
and Union would become an off-road bike trail. However, Aukamp said discussions
with the rail company that owns the property has been slow to happen. He said
that the committee has recently been able to start discussions with the rail
company, and he was excited about that. Of course, it is going to involve the
purchase of property, so he said he felt it would still take time to get
everything worked out.
He noted that the Regional Planning Commission and the Bike Trail Committee
wanted to see this project move forward, and choosing to do the city routes
first in Lincoln and Atlanta was the “low hanging fruit” part of the plan with
projects that could be completed in the near future without a great deal of
financial investment.
Mourning then asked if Aukamp had cost figures on how much the city would have
to spend to do the paint on the streets marking the bike trail as well as the
signage. Aukamp said he did not at this time.
The council agreed to Aukamps request to review the written plan presented to
them, and place the item on the agenda for voting in two weeks. Aukamp said if
any of the council had further questions or comments regarding the plan, he or
Angela Stoltzenburg of the Healthy Communities Partnership would be available to
discuss those as needed.
[Nila Smith]
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