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Hernando Today

Good Neighbor Trail Project Likely Pushed Back

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By TONY MARRERO

Published: January 9, 2008

Hernando Today

BROOKSVILLE - City officials had hoped to finally see walkers, joggers, skaters and cyclists enjoying the first phase of the Good Neighbor Trail this year.

The walking and rolling is probably going to have to wait until 2009.

The city council on Monday was forced to give back $200,000 in state grant money for the project because another grant has yet to come through.

The city will have to reapply for the state grant, which will likely push back until early next year construction of the roughly mile-and-a-quarter segment of trail, Community Development Director Bill Geiger told the council.

"It's a juggling act," Geiger said.

The projected cost to design and pave the 6,900 feet of trail from Russell Park to Jasmine Drive is $430,000.

The city was awarded $200,000 through the Florida Department of Environmental Protection's Florida Recreation Development Assistance Program.

The grant came with the stipulation that construction be completed by April 30.

That's no longer possible because $230,000 in federal money that officials expected would have already been awarded to the city is evidently caught up in the bureaucracy, Geiger said. The money is funneled to the city through the Florida Department of Transportation.

The city will reapply for the FDEP grant and officials have indicated the chances are good that the city will once again be awarded the money, Geiger said, though he cautioned that the state's projected revenue shortfall could be a factor.

Meanwhile, Hernando County, which is the go-between between the city and FDOT, plans to ask that agency for more money. It could be enough to cover the entire project, eliminating the need for the FDEP grant and allowing for construction to begin this year after all, Geiger said.

However, that will require working through the same bureaucracy.

"Recent history has shown us the...process has become more cumbersome," he said.

It's the same grant process that has contributed to the delay in installing a $75,000 restroom facility in Russell Park, Geiger said. That project is expected to be complete soon, though, he said.

The Good Neighbor Trail, first conceived in 1999, is a key part of the city's redevelopment plan.

The Hernando Historical Museum Association is working to create a "historic village" at the park. The association is mostly finished with renovations to the historic Brooksville Train Depot. A renovated box car dating back to the late 1800s is parked there, too.

The second and third phases of the project call for the trail to be extended east another nine miles, mostly along a former railroad bed, to the Withlacoochee State Trail.

Even further in the future is a plan to head west, ultimately connecting to the Suncoast Trail.

Council member Lara Bradburn is a member of the Good Neighbor Trail Advisory Committee.

"Obviously I'm disappointed in this news," Bradburn said Monday of the likely delay to the first phase, "but let's be optimistic and not lose hope that we will get this underway and it will become a centerpiece not just for Brooksville but for Hernando County."

Reporter Tony Marrero can be contacted at 352-544-5286 or lmarrero@hernandotoday.com.

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