State funds may help connect the Legacy Trail

After a packed meeting April 1, 2015 in which the County Commission supported plans to extend the Legacy Trail into downtown Sarasota, the initiative has languished without updates from officials for nearly a year.

That could change March 31, when $16.5 million in state funding could become available to fill a regional multiuse trail network that includes the Legacy Trail.

“There’s been some downers in the last 12 months,” said Chuck Butterfield, president of the Friends of the Legacy Trail. “But now, we’re very excited.”

The project would get a boost if the Florida Greenways and Trails Council, which makes recommendations to the Florida Department of Transportation, chooses to prioritize completion of the Southwest Coastal Regional Trail, which runs from Collier to Pinellas counties.

County commissioners approved a letter in support of the extension to the council Tuesday.

“We’ve identified the extension of the Legacy Trail as one of our top priorities,” said Commissioner Charles Hines.

The state funding came in to play following a 2015 Florida Legislature decision to allocate $25 million annually to support the state’s Shared-Use Non-Motorized Trail Network, known as SUNTrails. The council will determine whether the system encompassing the Legacy Trail should get SUNTrails funds as the next selected priority area.

FDOT hasn’t spent the $25 million allotted for 2015, which rolled over into the current year, according to Tampa Bay Area Regional Transportation Authority Senior Planner Michael Case. If the state chooses to fund the Southwest Coast Connector, proponents would need to champion a Legacy Trail extension as a tourism and economic development boon — and prove how shovel-ready the project is.

The county has already completed a $150,000 feasibility study to lay out options for building 7.5 miles of new trails north from just south of Clark Road to Payne Park. Roughly half of the funding for that analysis came from the Friends of the Legacy Trail and an online crowdfunding partnership between the Gulf Coast Community Foundation and Sarasota entrepreneur Jesse Biter, which yielded donations from more than 140 individuals and organizations.

“I think if you just look at it from a local context, I don’t see why we wouldn’t be one of the top candidates to get funding from this,” said Patrick Lui, the county’s bicycle, pedestrian and trails coordinator.

The project is slated to cost between $16 million and $20 million, but that figure doesn’t include as much as $8.9 million that could be needed to acquire 7.5 miles of tracks currently owned by railroad company CSX Transportation, according to a March 2015 estimate from consultant Cardno Inc. The nonprofit Trust for Public Land is partnering with the county and the Friends on tackling the latter issue.

“We’ve done a lot of groundwork already to raise our hands in the air and say, ‘We’re ready to use it,’” Lui said. “We’re not at a stage where we’re just talking about it.”

There are still plenty of hurdles for project supporters.

The county needs to appraise the railroad land and conduct an environmental assessment, which could cost $250,000. And Lui said there was no estimate of how much state funding the county would ultimately receive.

“I haven’t been asked to help (with the latest push), but I will help in any way I can,” said Biter, who serves on the board of Enterprise Florida. “Our community could really use this trail extension. It will make a huge difference.”

Representatives from the TBARTA, the Sarasota-Manatee Metropolitan Planning Organization and eight other MPOs, along with senior-level county staff, will attend the March 31 meeting to champion the region. Although supporters of the cause are eagerly pursuing this funding opportunity, they’re not pinning all of their hopes on it.

“It’s not the end of the world if we don’t get this money this time around,” Butterfield said. “The extension is going to happen — It’s just a matter of when.”