Development plan includes 'Bison Loop'

Monday, February 11, 2013
Illustrations from a downtown McCook Redevelopment plan, which is intended to increase traffic flow between downtown McCook, McCook Community College, Kiplinger Arena and U.S. Highway 83. (RDG Planning & Design)

McCOOK, Nebraska -- A recently released revitalization plan for downtown McCook calls for the creation of the "Bison Loop," a combination of new sidewalk construction and improvements to existing sidewalks, enhanced with lighting, signage and landscaping improvements.

The goal of the improvements is to ease the movement of visitors and improve connections between the downtown area and McCook Community College, Heritage Hills Golf Course, Kiplinger Arena and U.S. Highway 83.

The circulation improvements intend to aid in the attraction of visitors and encourage visitors to spend more time in the community, while enhancing quality of life for residents, according to the plan.

The downtown revitalization plan, compiled by RDG Planning & Design, will be presented to the McCook Planning Commission this evening, 5:15 p.m. at the Municipal Facility, and serves as the basis for how a $350,000 economic development grant will be spent.

A grant hearing on the proposed project has also been scheduled for the March 4, 2013, McCook City Council meeting.

The downtown revitalization plan includes three phases which could be completed within the first three years of the projected 10 plus year project.

The three include approximately $600,000 to $700,000 in improvements to the Norris and B Street intersection; a $575,000 to $650,000 "Keystone Plaza" project; and $235,000 to $265,000 for a "Keystone Lawn" project.

Two four- to 10-year phases of the plan are listed, they include $630,000 to $700,000 in streetscape improvements; and $890,000 to $1,000,000 for a parking garden.

Some $559,000 to $630,000 is listed in the 10-plus year phase of the plan for a farmer's market plaza.

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  • Folks remember the grant is only $350k. The first of the three proposed phases has a $1.615 million price tag. The next phase is $$1.7 million and the last one is ONLY $$630K.

    -- Posted by dennis on Mon, Feb 11, 2013, at 3:02 PM
  • I hope they don't waste the money on sidewalks like they did at the corner of Norris/B streets. What a waste of money that was.

    -- Posted by Pierre on Mon, Feb 11, 2013, at 4:34 PM
  • Yeah what a waste of money to have people with strollers and wheel chairs actually be able to use the sidewalk (eyeroll).

    -- Posted by cq22 on Mon, Feb 11, 2013, at 6:26 PM
  • My suggestion would be to first get a plan together on repairing some streets in this town and I don't mean just putting another band aid on them I mean actually repairing them, the Reservation is horrible but hey at least we have us a new City Hall which has to be the ugliest looking building I have ever seen in my life!

    -- Posted by boston creek on Wed, Feb 13, 2013, at 8:14 PM
  • Boston, the best way to be taken seriously is to be facetious. Just because they haven't fixed the street in front of YOUR house doesn't mean streets haven't been fixed. And when the street gets repaired in front of your house then your valuation of your house will go up and who you complain about then?

    Food for Thought.

    -- Posted by Nick Mercy on Mon, Feb 18, 2013, at 8:33 PM
  • Oh Nicky! I appreciate your concern for me, however my street is in pretty fair shape it's the rest of them to get to my house. Besides either way mine as well as everybody else valuations will go up if they pass this foolish downtown idea. Here is another food for thought comment Nicky, why don't you go to the walking trail which was also constructed under grand money, count the runners/walkers than come up to the reservation and count them runners/walkers I bet you, you will notice very quickly that the reservation has more runners/walkers then the walking trail, so I'm thinking maybe we have more foot traffic up here because frankly the streets are just to darn rough to drive.

    -- Posted by boston creek on Wed, Feb 20, 2013, at 11:43 PM
  • County won't support walking trail

    Monday, April 18, 2005

    Connie Jo Discoe

    Red Willow County commissioners split 2-1 this morning and declined to support the creation of a 13-mile walking trail proposed by McCook's Parks Advisory Board.

    Commission Chairman Earl McNutt and Commissioner Leigh Hoyt voted against helping the city pay for the project that, in phases, would ultimately cost $3.8 million. Fellow Commissioner Steve Downer, who said he did not want to stop the project, cast the lone vote in support of the project.

    Downer's first motion, to support the project, died for lack of a second. Commissioners voted 2-1 on McNutt's motion to deny support.

    McCook's engineer, Doyle Wineland, and project team members Tor Olson and Becky Kilpatrick presented the master plan to commissioners. The plan would be implemented in phases over 15-20 years. Phase I would be renovation of the existing Kelley Park Trail, from East H northwest to East Fifth, approximately 3,302 feet.

    The trail would eventually loop in, around and outside McCook, for a total of 13.2 miles. The entire trail would be eight feet wide with a six-inch-thick concrete pathway. It would have a 20-foot right-of-way and be handicap and ambulance accessible.

    The trail will be funded primarily with federal grants through the Nebraska Department of Roads, Wineland told commissioners. The cost of Phase I will be $178,520, Wineland said, of which local sponsors would be responsible for $36,000. The county was asked to provide $12,000 -- $6,000 in 2006 and $6,000 in 2007.

    Wineland, Olson, Kilpatrick and McCook Community College CEO and Vice President Dr. Richard Tubbs spoke in support of the project, saying the trail would provide a safe place, away from traffic, for people to walk and ride bikes.

    Wineland said he anticipates seeing more than McCook residents using the trail. Kilpatrick said research in Kearney and North Platte indicates that travelers at hotels often ask about walking trails. Dr. Tubbs said it would provide recreation for college students, and Kilpatrick said the trail would encourage more bike-riders, especially young children.

    The city and the county would be responsible for maintenance, repairs and upkeep -- including spraying for bugs and weeds and mowing -- after the trail is completed.

    Hoyt said he feels there are adequate streets and sidewalks in McCook on which to ride and bike, and objected to the use of grants, which, he said, are not "free money." "Somebody pays for these grants," he said, "It's you, and me, and everybody else. I'm having a hard time spending $3.8 million on a project when we've got streets and sidewalks in town and asphalt in the county."

    McCook resident Dick Drake echoed those thoughts, saying grants "are cloaked as free money flying in the windows," that pays for what are sometimes frivolous projects. Drake said McCook's sidewalks and streets are "low risk," because traffic is not intense.

    Drake continued, "This is an incredibly bad time, when the city and county have so many other things that need funding."

    Drake said the trail could be a good project for a community-based group, such as the Rotary Club, which developed McCook's existing trail.

    "The project is not worth the cost," Drake said. "It doesn't justify the cost."

    Downer said he has used walking trails in other communities and towns, and, looking into the future, can see benefits to McCook and the county. He made the motion to support the trail, "because I don't want to the stop the project." That motion died for lack of a second.

    McNutt called the trail "an excellent idea," but not something for which he can justify spending county money.

    "There are way too many financial issues ahead of us," McNutt said. "Yeah, it's only $12,000, but ... " he said, small amounts always seem to keep adding up. "There are just too many other priorities," he said.

    Hoyt seconded McNutt's motion, saying, "There are plenty of places to walk. And grants cost us money too."

    Kilpatrick was not discouraged. She said project sponsors would still go ahead with the trail. "I'm sure we'll find our funding," she said.

    The Middle Republican Natural Resources District board of directed voted Tuesday to spend $12,000 on the project over the next two years.

    Project sponsors present the same question to the McCook City Council this evening.

    -- Posted by boston creek on Wed, Feb 20, 2013, at 11:51 PM
  • boston , it's just Nick , or The Nick, if you choose. I'm not following your correlation between the walking trail and the streets up in a reservation. Are you saying that more people walk in the reservation than on the walking

    trail or that the streets in the reservation are in bad shape, & if so, why are more people hanging out up there when the walking trail is available? You're not being clear.

    -- Posted by Nick Mercy on Fri, Feb 22, 2013, at 3:20 PM
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