York City Council agrees to move forward with next step of pedestrian trail
YORK — On Thursday evening, the York City Council voted 5-3 to move to the next stage of Project Access York, a federally-funded pedestrian trail that is planned to stretch from near the fairgrounds to the Interstate 80 interchange area.
The at-times heated meeting was standing room only and lasted well over two and a half hours. For nearly a third of that time, City Administrator Sue Crawford spoke about the project, taking questions from council members about the route, its cost and the federal guidelines that regulate the process.
On the agenda on Thursday was a resolution to approve "Supplement 2," an agreement with Olsson Inc. to move forward with the current route of the trail and begin the process of negotiating with impacted landowners. The trail is in large part funded by a $15.6 million federal grant the city received in 2022.
For months, at council meetings a handful of landowners have asked the council to consider an alternative route that would go in their front yards on Grant Avenue, rather than in an old railway route behind their backyards.
At the meeting on Thursday, some council members proposed tabling Supplement 2 in order to further consider the alternative route.
Doing so could come at a serious cost, Crawford said.
The current route was recommended by Olsson and approved by the Nebraska Department of Transportation, which administers the federal grant, after considering the route on Grant Avenue. Olsson found the Grant Avenue route to be less safe because it would cross more intersections and driveways and it would also cost an additional $100,000.
At this point, if the council asked Olsson to look back into the Grant Avenue route, Crawford said that in addition to the $100,000 more to go on Grant Avenue, there would also be more engineering costs and time required to re-do part of the National Environmental Policy Act review. That could push the city past its September 2026 deadline to obligate the construction funds.
Councilmember Stephen Postier, who ultimately voted in favor of moving forward with the project, said was uncertain about how he would vote going into the meeting. Postier said he thought the Grant Avenue route would be better, since he worried about visibility and vandalism on the old rail road route.
He said he ultimately voted in favor of the project because the trail is needed for the community.
"I feel it could be better, but a 90% perfect path is better than 0%. It doesn't mean as we continue down the process, I won't continue to try to see what we can do to improve it, make sure landowners are treated fairly when they are being negotiated," Postier said.
Matt Wagner, who, along with Councilors Jerry Wilkinson and Vicki Northrop, voted against moving forward with the project, said he was responding to the community.
"I look around and the community has spoken to me and all the signs that I see in yards and the people that have come and visited me at my workplace this week to express their concerns and the phone calls that I've gotten," Wagner said.
"The people that don't want it — they have spoken louder than folks who possibly do," Wagner said.
At Thursday's meeting just over 10 members of the public spoke, with some praising the project but more criticizing it. In May and June, the city also received over 100 comments from residents about the project.
Brandon Lehman, who was one of four landowners on Grant Avenue who signed a letter to the council asking them to move the project from behind their yard to the front of it, grew emotional when he spoke, asking the council to not approve Supplement 2.
Councilwoman Jennifer Sheppard, who voted for Supplement 2, said she was sympathetic for people whose land could be encroached on, but ultimately said she wanted to represent those "who are not comfortable with being the loudest in the room."
She told the News-Times her own kids have had a hard time traveling to jobs around the interstate without cars.
The council ultimately voted 5-3 to approve Supplement 2, agreeing to pay $509,473,46 — most of which would come from the grant, Crawford said — to Olsson to proceed with the next steps in the project.
Safety on the trail
Kearney, Lexington and Sidney all have trails that connect their downtowns to the area around Interstate 80. In interviews, city administrators in Lexington and Sidney said they had not heard from residents about issues with crime on their cities' trails.
Director of Recreation Services for Kearney, Scott Hayden, said he occasionally hears from frustrated homeowners about possible trespassers coming off the city's approximately 30 miles of trails, but that the community generally views it as a top recreational activity. A trail goes behind his own home, he said.
Residents from four different homes next to Beaver Creek trail in York told the News-Times they either didn't mind or were neutral about having Beaver Creek Trail in their backyard. They expressed a range of feelings about Project Access York.
Randy Milton, 68, said he was strongly in favor of a trail to the interchange area because in the past he has had to walk or bike on Highway 81 to get to the businesses there. He said he'd also like to see a trail connecting the city to Recharge Lake.
Kelli Pachner, another resident who lives near Beaver Creek Trail, said she was against connecting the trail to the area around Interstate 80 because she thought it would increase the risk that her grandchildren are sex trafficked.
On the council meeting on Thursday, one person expressed concern about sex trafficking people due to the trail's connection to the interchange area and another expressed concern about safety on the trail.
At a council meeting back in April, Crawford said the York Police Department had responded to 8,000 calls in the last three years. There were no homicide calls or kidnapping and abduction calls in the area between 21st street and the interchange during that period, she said, and there was an average of less than one sex offense call and less than four assault calls per year.
In an interview before the council meeting, Postier, who said he has worked on anti-human trafficking causes for a long time, said he did not think sex trafficking was a legitimate concern about the trail, though he worried that a lack of visibility on certain stretches of the trail could encourage vandalism.
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