East phase of Town-to-Lakes Trail ready for bids

Dickhoff began by describing the history of the project and how it became a priority for the town. He then provided an overview of the planned phases for the project and the physical route each phase would follow.

The town already has all of the funding it needs to complete two phases of the project — the east phase and the west phase. The problem, as Town Manager Greg Schulte pointed out later, is when you accept funding from any federal or state agency there is almost always some red tape or strings attached.

Of particular concern in this case is the acquisition of easements across private property. One stipulation that accompanied the funding was that the town couldn’t negotiate directly with the property owners. Instead, it was required to hire a third party to conduct all negotiations with the property owners on behalf of the town.