Staff recommends Council accept the $20,000 donation from Billings TrailNet in support of preliminary design and easement work for the Downtown-Coulson Park Trail Connection and the Alkali Creek Trail Connection.

For several years, Planning & Community Services has listed both the Downtown-Coulson Park Trail Connection and the Alkali Creek Trail Connection in its section of the Capital Improvements Plan (CIP). The connections are also shown in the Billings Area Bikeway and Trails Master Plan and the update to that document, the Billings Area Pedestrian and Bicycle Master Plan. The downtown-Coulson Park Connection is also on Billings TrailNet's top 5 future projects list and aligns with the improvements the Park's Department is moving ahead with for Coulson Park. Both trails will provide significant safety improvements by providing alternative routes for non-motorized users away from high speed traffic. They also both make or complete connections for the overall Heritage Trail system.

Both of these projects require some development and design work to help make them ready for grant applications, like the Transportation Alternatives program recently reviewed with the City Council. Transportation Planner Elyse Monat approached Billings TrailNet and requested a donation of funds to help cover preliminary design and development of these two projects. The Billings TrailNet board voted to provide $20,000 to cover these efforts. Funds will be used to hire a consultant to work with City Engineering Division and City Planning staff to help with property owner outreach, development of easements, and preliminary alignment/design. 

The city’s acceptance of donated funds from Billings TrailNet for preliminary design work on non-motorized projects does not obligate the city to allocate funds for construction. Instead, it provides valuable information that will help assess the feasibility and potential costs of the projects. This preliminary work ensures the city is well-prepared to pursue future grant applications (TA or other sources) or other funding opportunities as they become available. This preemptive work allows for informed decision-making when considering the next steps for these trail connections. Further, Billings TrailNet has been a consistent partner with the City in both matching grant funds as well as supporting pre-construction work that is necessary to ensure projects are set up for success when full design and construction occurs. This continues to be critical for the City as efforts to secure annual funding for trail project pre-work like this, grant matching funds, and funding to build non-motorized facilities has not been successful outside of programming by Public Works in relation to in-ROW projects and SRTS improvements. 

Ultimately, it is the residents and visitors of Billings that benefit from the provision of non-motorized pathways and trails that connect our community. And the community also benefits from having public/private partnerships to help fund and support these activities.

City Council may:

• Accept the donation from Billings TrailNet; or,
• Not Accept the donation from Billings TrailNet. Not accepting the donation will delay development of preliminary design and project readiness so that application of these corridors for grants or other funding sources may not be pursued when opportunities arise.

Accepting the funds from Billings TrailNet will provide $20,000 in funding for the initial pre-design and prep work for these trails that the City does not have available. Accepting these funds and developing easements does not require the City to construct these trails. However, this will help set the projects up for current or future grant funding as funds become available.