Manatee County plans to build greenways, bicycle trails - but there's no funding
MANATEE -- With the popular 47-mile Pinellas Trail to the north and the 10-mile-plus Legacy Trail to the south, Manatee County is a glaring missing link in regional connectivity.
The lack of trails forces hundreds of cyclists to ride on the streets, where they find themselves taking safety into their own hands on roads without bicycle lanes. Manatee County's Village Idiots Cycling Club is among them.
Take Paul Troyer, the club's president, who is planning to complete a 100-mile charity ride Sunday. He will ride the Legacy Trail, but that's in Sarasota.
"I don't think there are any trails in Manatee County. At least none that are publicized or well-traveled," Troyer said. "I think it would be really cool if we could connect something in Manatee County to the Legacy Trail."
Manatee County actually has detailed plans calling for such trails -- plans that are more than a decade old. In 2002, county commissioners approved a Greenways Master Plan. But not a single proposal in it has ever been funded or implemented.
"We've done the plans," Manatee County Administrator Ed Hunzeker said. "We just have no money. We have no funding currently available for trails."
More than 80 miles of trails were proposed in the 2002 plan. Since then, the proposals have been narrowed to two priorities: the Willow-Ellenton Rail Trail and the Gateway Greenway.
These two trails could link Manatee to neighboring counties. The Gateway Greenway Trail would stretch from the Hillsborough County Line to the Sarasota County Line, and the Willow-Ellenton Rail Trail would run parallel to the Parrish and Palmetto rail corridor, also reaching the Hillsborough County Line.
The Gateway Greenway Trail "is still overwhelmingly the most economic cross-county trail that we can work toward to be partners with counties to the north and the south for such long-distance off-road experiences," said Charlie
Hunsicker, the county's parks and natural resources director.
That doesn't mean the county won't consider other trails. Hunsicker says he just wants to get started.
They have a vision, he says, "for a true cross county trail system out here at Gateway Greenway Trail."
As the county continues its Parks Master Plan over the next several months, trails will be in the forefront.
To Hunsicker, the state of the trails in Manatee County is "Happy New Year" as they are going to be starting fresh.
"It's the beginning of the new focus," he said. "We are ready to go."
Funding for trails
Manatee County has no designated funding source for trails. Looking to the surrounding counties of Sarasota, Hillsborough and Pinellas, all have an infrastructure sales tax -- and that is how they financed the highly demanded trails.
"Their trails were built with their sales tax, and we don't have a sales tax and we don't have a trail," Hunzeker said. "It would appear that would be the way the other communities have extensive trail systems."
A Manatee Citizens Financial Structure Advisory Board, tasked with addressing the county's funding issues, has found that an infrastructure sales tax is one of the more favorable revenue options. A half-cent sales tax, which requires voter referendum, would generate $22.8 million a year in Manatee County.
"The infrastructure sales tax is one of those spark plugs that are going to be necessary for us to reach some of the goals we will identify in the Parks Master Plan," Hunsicker said. "We have impact fees available to us right now to get started. Those impact fees fall short of recreational development that extends into the tens of millions of dollars for a single facility."
A trail is estimated to cost more than $1 million per mile, which takes into account land acquisition. But for a trail such as the Gateway Greenway, for which 80 percent of the land is already publicly owned, the cost could be half that amount or less.
"That's why this will be a good value for Manatee County," Hunsicker said.
Other projects are listed in the Sarasota/Manatee Metropolitan Planning Organization's Bicycle, Pedestrian and Trails Master Plan, which was adopted in December 2013. An islandwide bicycle path is also being discussed on Anna Maria Island.
Dave Hutchinson, MPO executive director, said they won't meet all the region's needs overnight.
"We have a lot more needs identified than funding to accommodate," he said. "It is an ongoing process."
Lack of trails in Manatee
While in college, John Osborne would ride the Pinellas Trail to work. That trail, which goes through the spine of the most densely populated county in the state, was "really a community game changer for Pinellas," he said.
Now as the planning official for Manatee County, Osborne still is a bike commuter. Instead of a trail, he has to rely on sidewalks, back neighborhood streets and bike lanes to get from his East Manatee home to downtown Bradenton.
"When a community doesn't have it, you are a missing a big opportunity for mobility," Osborne said. "We are kind of behind the eight ball when it comes to greenway development in the county. We haven't invested in that in the county."
Trails help with redevelopment, Osborne said, as proximity to trails is often ranked as a top attraction.
"We really need to get on the ball and build greenways and trails," he said. "It's something I know that future generations are really desiring to make us desirable in the marketplace.
"I think we need to make a transformation for the sustainability in the county and take a leap forward, and change the way we think about transportation and provide these options for people," Osborne added. "We can't keep focusing on cars."
For Ed Goff, a Manatee County resident and administrator of the Manatee Trails Facebook page, a bicycle pedestrian coordinator would help focus on requesting funding, apply for grants and help with plans.
"You aren't going to get a grant unless you have skin in the game -- that you can show you have plans, that you have things to get it going," Goff said.
Trails would be "a great asset to the community," Goff said. "It would get people off the roads. It's not just for recreation. It's absolutely a safety issue."
For at least the past 10 years, the MPO has been shifting to a multimodal approach for transportation planning, Hutchinson said.
"There is a widespread recognition of the value connected multi-use trails bring to our residents and those who visit Southwest Florida," he said. "Multi-use trails complement and support bicycle and pedestrian safety, tourism economic development efforts and public health initiatives. It's becoming mainstream now."
The Greenways Master Plan and the MPO plan have very similar proposals, Goff said.
"We had 16 years that we could have been building some of these trails, and now some of the places are no longer possible," he said.
As time continues to pass without trails built, costs will rise and more routes could be interrupted with new development, Hunsicker warned.
"We've been fortunate in some places that the development hasn't caught up to us," he said.
Benefits of trails
The importance of trails is well-documented for the benefit of a community beyond recreation, says Doug Hattaway, project manager with The Trust for Public Land, a national non-profit organization that helps create parks and protect land.
"They also demonstrate health benefits and impact on property value," Hattaway said. "There are a lot of benefits that greenways and trails provide to a community beyond hopping on a bike and enjoying the outdoors."
Trails enhance public safety, property value and well-being, Hunsicker said.
"They provide safe routes to schools," he said. "They provide for general health and wellness in many places with walking, hiking and cycling."
Trails also benefit communities through revitalization, Hunsicker said, pointing to what has happened along the Pinellas Trail.
Cities such as Dunedin are a "poster child for renewal focused around not just the trail, but the new recognition for downtown Dunedin and the urban core," he said. "Likewise in our long-range vision, Palmetto and Bradenton areas would also benefit."
Looking at both the Riverwalk in downtown Bradenton and the Legacy Trail in Sarasota, trails can be "transformational to the communities where they exist," Hutchinson said.
"We are making progress," he said. "We have some great examples that have been transformational in the communities where they exist. They can serve not just visitors, but people who live here."
Efforts across Florida
A statewide effort called the Shared-Use, Nonmotorized Trails System is underway. In both 2014 and 2015, the Florida Legislature passed bills to create and fund the SUN Trail. A minimum of $25 million annually will be allocated by the Florida Department of Transportation for projects within the network.
The funding is broken down into three tiers: Tier 1 for a Coast to Coast Trail, Tier 2 for priority corridors, and Tier 3 for individual trails outside the major corridors.
Tier 2 includes a trail that cuts through western Manatee County. The Southwest Coastal Regional Trail would run from the Pinellas Trail to Naples, and was ranked the third highest priority corridor by the Florida Greenways and Trails Council. The Sarasota/Manatee MPO threw its support behind the trail last month and added it to the MPO's priority list for SUN Trail funding.
"We also did get statewide recognition of having viable projects that need funding," Hutchinson said. "Coming in third puts us in a very strong position to compete for funding for individual trails."
Roger Normand, who is on the Friends of the Legacy Trail board of directors in Sarasota, went to Tallahassee to advocate for the Southwest Coastal Regional Trail.
"We are very active in doing things for the trails, both to keep the existing trail, and also to advocate for extending the trail," he said. "There is really a lot of good things for trail building that is happening across the state of Florida and that is really a positive thing."
But even so, Hattaway said there is still work ahead in developing a complete trail system. "There are strategic gaps that remain to complete what would be a world renowned state trail network," he said. "There are some great trails. We need to connect these in statewide network so much work is still ahead of us."
Claire Aronson, Manatee County reporter, can be reached at 941-745-7024. Follow her on Twitter @Claire_Aronson.
This story was originally published April 9, 2016 at 11:23 PM with the headline "Manatee County plans to build greenways, bicycle trails - but there's no funding ."