The Town of Culver is hoping to restart a project that Town officials think can improve the community’s quality of place.
During Tuesday night’s Culver Town Council meeting, representatives of the Troyer Group presented general plans for developing bicycle and pedestrian paths throughout Culver. The Town originally attempted the project a little more than one year ago, but failure to receive a grant for the planning stalled efforts.
Troyer Group representative Mike Reese says there’s a process to develop a Master Plan.
“We’ll not only look at all of the routes, the existing infrastructure, the best places for trails, we’ll also give an opportunity to town residents through different public engagement: business owners, different stakeholders, town personnel, everyone to come together on their ideas,” says Reese.
The Troyer Group says that the paths not only promote increased property values and health, but can also link important sections of a community – which in Culver’s case would include the beach, the park, the downtown, and Culver Academies.
Grants are available, as Culver already knows, to help fund the construction. A few of the options, such as the OCRA place-based investment fund, were reviewed during this week’s Town Council meeting.
Reese says there’s a point to all of the planning.
“You want to do these projects, but to do them properly, you need the planning up front,” says Reese. “Obviously the planning up front costs some money, but the goal is to save a lot more money by the time you’re done by doing the proper planning, proper routes.”
Increasing economic activity through tourism and population growth was also cited as a potential upside to developing bike and pedestrian paths.
Among the items about which those in attendance Tuesday night were cautious was the way the project would complement the Regional Cities project. Those grant monies also call for the development of bike paths in the Marshall County area.
