CAVE SPRINGS — Mayor Travis Lee and the Planning and Development Department want to build a bike trail that will connect to the Razorback Greenway, but some residents who fear the city will seize private property to finish it could throw up a roadblock.
The trail, if built, will connect to the Greenway in Lowell. Lee said he hopes the trail, which could cost up to $2.6 million to build, will cost the city nothing.
“We have four grants funded, and we are applying for two more, plus a private donor that we can’t say until we get fully funded,” Lee said.
The four grants total $841,000. The Arkansas Natural Heritage Commission received a $150,000 grant to purchase easements in Cave Springs, Lee said.
“The trail is coming together,” Lee said. “Seventy-five percent (of the land) is already committed.”
Bryan Rupar, chief of land acquisition and stewardship for the Natural Heritage Commission, confirmed the bike trail would run across acquired easements.
“In our (grant) proposal, we noted there would be a bike trail easement across these properties,” Rupar said. “It’s a way to provide the recreational benefit for the bike trail, and the conservation benefits (threatened and endangered) species.”
Efforts to build the trail have met resistance from the residents of the Ridgewood subdivision, which is made up of homes valued around $500,000, according to Craig Southern, planning and zoning official for the Planning and Development department.
Several Ridgewood residents showed up to speak against the trail at a work session in late August. The residents said they had learned the trail would be behind the subdivision, and they were upset city officials had not spoken to them about it.
Ridgewood residents have kept up their objections since that meeting, showing up at other city meetings to speak against the trail. Two alternate trail routes that are clear of Ridgewood were designed by Kevin Beaumont, an engineer with McClelland Consulting Engineers of Fayetteville.
“They’re going to take it if we don’t raise Cain.”
— Jim Weir, resident
Tim Chasteen, president of the Ridgewood Property Owners Association, is adamant the city is determined to build behind Ridgewood. Chasteen said he believes that based on Lee, Beaumont and grant writer Cassie Elliot lauding the route behind Ridgewood as the shortest distance and cheapest to build.
A map of the proposed trail routes shows the shortest route is the one that runs along Ridgewood; it is 10,032 linear feet and would cost $1.99 million to build. The route directly north of the first proposed route is 12,029 linear feet and would cost $2.26 million to build. The northern most route, which runs along Shores Avenue, is 14,669 linear feet and would cost $2.61 million to build. Each route would be 12 feet wide, according to Southern.
“The evaluation should not be about the shortest route and cheapest cost,” Chasteen said. “You have to take into account the value of people’s property and privacy.”
Chasteen acknowledged there are many homes and properties along the Greenway, but those are homes of a different demographic.
“I’m not trying to come off highfalutin or egotistical, but young families with starter homes will probably be glad to have the trail,” Chasteen said. “People who are buying homes such as ours are not interested in having a trail come through our backyard and bring privacy issues and safety issues.”
Southern said Cave Springs police will patrol the trail on bikes and lights and emergency call posts to contact law enforcement would be installed.
The Planning Department will recommend a trail route during the Dec. 13 City Council meeting, Southern said.
Several council members also have expressed concern about the trail route.
“If we can’t find a route that people will be happy with going by their property, I would be against it,” said Marc Williams, alderman. “I put a high priority on individual property rights.”
Alderman Larry Fletcher said he will only support the trail if the route that runs along Shores Avenue, which is the alternate route farthest north from the original route near Ridgewood, is selected.
Alderman Mary Ann Winters said she does not want the city to seize private land.
Jim Weir, whose property is located behind Ridgewood, said the trail route the city wants would cut across his farmland between Ridgewood and his home. He feels certain the city wants to take his property and surrounding properties for the trail.
“They’re going to take it if we don’t raise Cain,” Weir said. “They keep telling us they’re not going to condemn, but I’ve done my homework and that’s what they’ll do, and they call it eminent domain.”
Southern said while the city has the power to take private land, there is no interest in doing so.
“I think we have adequate information now to make an intelligent recommendation that is not going to impact residents and at the same time be cost-effective,” Southern said. “If people don’t want to sell their land there is a process of condemnation that would require a City Council vote, but that’s not the route we want to take.”
Trail approval
On five occasions the Cave Springs City Council approved resolutions related to the trail, including a March 2015 resolution endorsing the Northwest Arkansas Bicycle & Pedestrian Master Plan and adopting a plan for Cave Springs.
Source: Staff report