Regional Planning Commission to pursue bicycle trail study to attract rail tourists

[July 08, 2014]  LINCOLN - The Regional Planning Commission met on the 2nd of July for their scheduled meeting. The meeting focused on continued efforts on the Bicycle Trail Plan proposed for Logan County. Due to the absence of the Chairman and the Vice Chairman, Treasurer Jeff Hoinacki called the meeting to order.

Bicycle Trail Plan Progress

Following on discussions from the previous meeting of the Commission, Will D’Andrea informed members that IDOT has been notified of the Commission’s desire to apply for more funding. The funding would be used by the Commission to continue work on the Bicycle Trail Plan for Logan County.

Jim Vipond, who is part of a subcommittee working on the Bicycle Trail Plan, told Commission members that said subcommittee met with a representative of the League of Illinois Bicyclists recently.

“The committee was very happy to hear that Phase Two was approved,” said Vipond, referring to the previous meeting of the Commission. In June, the Commission decided to continue moving forward into the next phase of planning for the bike trails.
 

Vipond also said that the subcommittee would recommend beginning a study on creating a trail connecting Kickapoo Creek Park with Madigan Park and the Lincoln Amtrak station.

“We think that would be a good nucleus to spread out into the county,” said Vipond. In addition, Vipond said that according to the League of Illinois Bicyclists, people are beginning to take bicycles on Amtrak trains specifically to find rural biking areas they cannot access in cities.

As an example, Vipond said that Pontiac is using this information to label themselves as a more “bicycle- friendly” community to promote tourism. “We could advertise ourselves this way and bring in more outside people,” said Vipond.

D’Andrea mentioned that people riding the train into Lincoln would need a way to find the rural areas they are looking to ride on. Vipond said that connecting the rural trails to an urban nucleus such as this would help to do exactly that, providing a way for tourists to find those rural trails.

David Hepler made a motion that any IDOT funding the group receives be used for such a study, looking into possible connections with rural trails planned so far. Vipond seconded the motion, and the Commission approved the motion unanimously.

Possible Wind Farm Application

D’Andrea briefly mentioned that he has been in talks with a company named Relite over the past several months. Relite, a company that operates out of Italy, is putting together paperwork to apply for construction in Logan County to build a new wind farm.

“At the rate they’re going, I would expect sometime around September, maybe October for them to come forward and begin the hearings,” said D’Andrea.

Aside from the possible future timeframe for hearings, nothing else was talked about concerning said wind farm development.

Commission members present were Keith Snyder, Jim Fuhrer, Jeff Hoinacki, Fred Finchum, Blair Hoerbert, Jim Vipond, Dean Sausse, David Hepler and Gerald Lolling. Zoning Officer Will D’Andrea was also present.

[By DEREK HURLEY]