Menu
Riverfront Park trail to open July 5
People can begin strolling the trail at Riverfront Park starting next week.
It has taken almost a decade, but the tree-lined Marmaton River and Mill Creek convergence area, north of the National Avenue bridge, is beginning to look like a park.
The trail was a collaborative effort of Bourbon County and the City of Fort Scott and has been in the planning stages for nine years.
A Bourbon County road crew graded the Riverfront Park Trail Thursday morning. The motor-grader was scraping the trail prior to the oil primer. Following a 48-hour settling, weather permitting, the asphalt for the trail will be laid Monday morning, according to Public Works Director Jim Harris.
"Monday we'll have about six guys working to lay the asphalt," he said. "We did all the grading, put in culverts, all compaction," he said.
Phase One of the trail project cost $125,000 and includes a half-mile trail between the Marmaton River and Mill Creek on the northern gateway to the city. The walking path will be 10-feet wide, according to Harris.
A $100,000 grant provided by the Kansas Department of Wildlife,Parks and Tourism provided the funding. City workers cleared trees last fall in the future park and did excavation work.
"We supplied labor and equipment," for the park project, Dave Martin, city manager said.
Ribbon cutting
Completion is slated for Saturday, July 5, in time for the Sixth Annual Riverfront Park Festival. The festival will begin with a 5:30 p.m. ribbon cutting ceremony, to mark the official opening of the first phase of the long-awaited walking trail.
History
In 2005, the Fort Scott Area Chamber of Commerce and the City of Fort Scott established the Fort Scott Visioning Committee to explore opportunities to improve quality of life in Fort Scott, according to the riverauthority.org website. Public meetings were held where citizens, working in teams, were given the opportunity to suggest improvement ideas. From the dozens of ideas compiled, a team of citizens selected the top five ideas to be implemented. A pair of co-conveners were chosen for each of the five ideas. Each pair of co-conveners formed their team. "Developing the River as an Asset" was one of those five teams.
The Developing the River as an Asset team held its first meeting in April 2006. The team developed a conceptual plan for improvements to the area along the river just north of downtown Fort Scott, according to the website. In January 2007, the team decided that the establishment of a riverfront authority would enhance public funding opportunities for the project. In February 2007, Senate Bill 321 was introduced into the Kansas Legislature to create the Fort Scott Bourbon County Riverfront Authority. The bill passed and was signed by former Governor Kathleen Sebelius on April 27, 2007.
The group has been meeting monthly since that time, developing the design, gaining grant monies for the master plan, adjusting the master plan to the desires of the different government agencies, acquiring land and dealing with the regulations of a dozen government entities, according to Jerry Witt of the Riverfront Authority board of directors.
"It's taken a lot longer than we envisioned," Dean Mann, chairman of the Riverfront Authority said. "Spending federal grants there is an unbelievable amount of permits."
The structure of the board of directors is defined in Kansas Senate Bill 321. It requires six directors. Three are appointed by Bourbon County and three are appointed by the City of Fort Scott. Directors are asked to serve three-year terms. The current board of directors from Bourbon County, Mann, Bob Love, Mike Lakeman; from the City of Fort Scott: Witt, Arnold Schofield and Jeff Sweetser.
Mann has been chairman of the board since 2007 and is stepping down.
"I will be completing my term July 1," Mann said. "I won't be a member of the board, but an active member of the Riverfront committee."
Mann lives most of the time in South Carolina, "but I'm in Fort Scott one week a month," he said. Mann said he takes care of his 97-year-old aunt, and he still owns property in Fort Scott.
"We will try to select a new chairman at the next monthly meeting," said Witt.
Future plans
Phase Two of the park plan is the river loop road.
"It's the south side of the river, from National (Avenue) under Highway 69, loop around and come back. There are also trails associated with that road, walk and bike trails," he said.
Phase Three will be to take the trails along the river to Gunn Park and also to the old military bridge off of 240th Street, he said.
"It's been a much slower process than we thought, but we are going to get it done and we're using money brought into Fort Scott and Bourbon County," Mann said.