By Sterling McGinn
The Newberry Village Council has tabled their decision to sponsor the Safe Routes to Schools grant proposal recently brought forth by a local committee. The village wants more detailed information before a more educated decision can be made.
The matter was discussed at the August regular meeting of the council on Tuesday, August 18.
The local Safe Routes to School team has worked more than a year on the proposal, which could bring in $900,000 to improve sidewalks to and from school. Three members of the team – Roxanna Transit, Allie Johnson, and Brooke Dake – were present that night in hopes the council would commit to the project.
Safe Routes to School is an MDOT-sponsored grant program that the village has previously participated in.
If the village commits to being the grant sponsor, all funds not covered by the grant would be the village’s responsibility, and Village Manager Allison Watkins would be named project manager.
Transit said that three types of entities can sponsor the grant: a Native American tribe, a road commission, or a village.
“This is not your standard Safe Routes to School grant opportunity,” Transit said. “Luce County is one of seven counties that are part of this pilot project with Toole Design and the Walkability Action Institute. There are contracts between MDOT, Toole Design, and Walkability Action Institute.”
Watkins and the board are concerned about extra costs for maintenance to the added sidewalks, especially winter snow removal.
Currently, a village DPW staff member spends eight to 10 hours in the Tool-Cat snowblower clearing the sidewalks that are already designated Safe Routes to School and that depends on the type of winter. Having more sidewalks designated as Safe Routes to School may require hiring additional personnel to help keep sidewalks clear.
Watkins said the village does not have the funds to cover overages not paid by the grant.
“Adding how many thousands of feet of sidewalk for the village to maintain adds more money to the village budget and it’s money we don’t have,” she said.
Transit said her team prioritized sidewalks based on where students live, factoring in density and population. Nine or 10 more blocks of sidewalk would be added to what the village now maintains from the last Safe Routes to School grant, awarded in 2012.
Watkins said a draft letter of village support for the project – not an agreement to cover costs – was written in February.
“A resolution committing the village to covering all the costs not covered by the grant is very different from an initial letter of support saying that we support the project,” said Watkins.
After a lengthy discussion, the council voted to table the decision until the next regular meeting, which will be held Tuesday, September 15 at 6 p.m. in the council chambers.
“You are asking for $900,000, which is fantastic, and I don’t think anybody here doesn’t understand that this is a great opportunity, but if you get a $900,000 grant from Safe Routes to School, that is for construction only,” Watkins said.
The final date to submit the application is September 30. Transit said if the proposal is submitted, the award announcement would likely be given in the spring of 2027.
In other news, Watkins updated the council on the striping for the freshy paved Newberry Avenue.
The striping proposal approved at the last meeting included bike lanes in the first three blocks of Newberry Avenue from Truman Boulevard, north to the railroad track. The local trails team, along with Toole Design and the TAP grant (Transportation Alternatives Program) had proposed bike lanes, which would travel between the curb and the fog line from Victory Way, north.
That proposal was turned down due to the council’s concern of the elimination of parking in front of the school and Trinity Lutheran Church. Toole design was asked to reconfigure the proposal from Victory Way to Truman.
The board did, however, approve painting bike lanes in the 100-300 blocks of Newberry Avenue and additional crosswalks along Newberry Avenue. This move stems from the local trails committee’s goal to create a paved bike path from the railroad tracks to Four Mile Corner.
She said that though the street is not striped yet for a bike lane, the lanes can accommodate a bike lane when funding from the TAP grant, Safe Routes to School, or another source is available. “They narrowed the three lanes—the lanes are no longer 12 feet, they are each 11 feet, which opened up footage on either side of the road,” Watkins said.
