SEQUIM — The so-called “missing link” of the Olympic Discovery Trail through Sequim found unanimous support from the City Council on Monday night, as the members voted 6-0 to foot half the bill for a long-hoped-for project.
The council voted yes on city Public Works Director Paul Haines’ plan to apply for a grant from the Washington Wildlife and Recreation Program, a state agency that could grant Sequim between $300,000 and $400,000 for the trail.
Trouble is, the cost of building the 0.9-mile segment — from the edge of Carrie Blake Park down Spruce Street to Sunnyside Avenue, then down Fir Street to Sequim Avenue — is $630,000.
So if the city does not win the state grant, it will have to make up the difference.
Whether Sequim will be able to afford more than $300,000 for the short leg of trail is an open question that won’t have to be decided now, since the grant wouldn’t come through till 2011, and Haines predicted construction probably won’t happen until 2012.
Haines added that the city has benefited from the ongoing work of the all-volunteer Peninsula Trails Coalition, which has helped prepare for the grant application.
The coalition has been behind the Olympic Discovery Trail since the early 1990s, when Sequim resident Dave LeRoux and other bicyclists envisioned a car-free path stretching from Port Townsend to the Pacific Ocean at LaPush.
Many legs have been built over the past 20 years, including trail sections along Lake Crescent, on the waterfront in Port Angeles, through Railroad Bridge Park west of Sequim, and angling from the Port Townsend Marina as the Larry Scott Memorial Trail.
But just 40 of the planned 120 miles are official Olympic Discovery Trail at this point, Haines said.
If the city does receive the Wildlife and Recreation Program money, “perhaps that means . . . the elk and other wildlife can use [the trail],” City Manager Steve Burkett quipped.
Haines added that the city may be able to provide its portion of construction funding from its new impact fees, which the council passed in March, or with revenue from the sales-tax increase approved by voters last November.
Sequim’s sales tax rose to 8.6 percent in April, and includes a two-tenths of a cent hike over the rest of Clallam County; the extra pennies are earmarked for street and sidewalk improvements around the town.
The Discovery Trail qualifies, and since the tax will be in effect for 10 years, there may be a chunk of money available in 2011.
Also on Monday night, Burkett announced that the city has received its first check from the state, which disburses those sales-tax revenues.
It’s $39,074.81 for April, he said.
“That puts us on track for our estimates of $450,000 per year,” in street-improvement money. Future revenue volume will depend, of course, on sales tax generated by those who shop and dine in Sequim.
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Sequim-Dungeness Valley Reporter Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-681-2391 or at diane.urbani@peninsuladailynews.com.
