The Homer City Council is moving forward on efforts to establish a walking trail on city-owned land above Karen Hornaday Park.

The council passed a resolution during their last meeting on Jan. 26 requesting that the city manager issue a request for proposals for professional trail planning and design services for an “informal” loop trail in the vicinity of the park.

In a Jan. 20 memorandum, council members Jason Davis and Shelly Erickson, who sponsored the resolution, noted that an informal loop route already exists and is used by city residents. The route currently consists of approximately 0.45 miles of already-improved trail, 0.45 miles of unimproved paths/games trails and 0.16 miles of existing campground road. The memo says that some sections of the trail “could benefit from extensive redesign and reinforcement if money were no object,” and that the intent of Resolution 26-010 is to seek an RFP that “strikes a sensible balance between thorough professional review, especially of the undeveloped portion of the loop, and the modest size of the City’s trails budget.”

Resolution 26-010 outlines a scope of work that includes on-site field review of the project area and engagement with local users to inform alignment and design recommendations; identification of a trail alignment that avoids wet areas, minimizes erosion risk and seeks to utilize slopes of less than 15% where feasible; selects a route that minimizes the need for removing existing trees and shrubs; and a presentation to the council of the trail planning and design.

The resolution was also passed following somewhat lengthy discussion amongst council members as to whether the timing of this request was appropriate considering the number of other projects that city staff are currently working on, including Homer Harbor float replacements and the Homer All-Ages and Abilities Pedestrian Pathway.

“While I appreciate the sponsors bringing this forward, and I fully support having a loop trail at Karen Hornaday Park … staff already have a full plate,” council member Donna Aderhold said. “If we move forward with this at this point in time, it’s going to push other things to the back burner while this gets pushed forward.

“I fully support this project, I just want it to get in line.”

Both the resolution and comments by several council members reflected that the request for an RFP came up at this time due to “strong community interest” in an improved trail that “prioritizes scenic experience, length of travel, and a sense of journey over shortest-distance or efficiency-based routing.”

“We believe that taking a deliberate planning approach now will help ensure that any future improvements are durable, cost-effective to maintain, and aligned with the character of the area,” Davis and Erickson wrote in the memo.

Homer Mayor Rachel Lord said she also understood the frustration that arises when community priorities don’t happen.

“It’s a tough one, because what a great project,” she said. “I do appreciate Councilmember Aderhold’s note … we’ve got to be mindful about limited capacity.”

Davis pointed out that the resolution is not directed toward trail construction at this time.

“We’ve been talking since May of last year about an RFP to assess the best routing for the trail,” he said. “The project itself will be big, but this assessment of where the trail would need to go does not need to be a huge thing, in my opinion.”

The council amended the resolution to push back the deadline for on-the-ground review as part of the RFP. In the original draft, the scope of work outlined that review and walk-throughs should be completed by mid-June “to the extent practicable” in recognition of seasonal vegetation growth and site accessibility considerations. The amended resolution pushes the completion date to mid-September.

City manager Melissa Jacobsen said that having “a little bit of flexibility in the timing” of issuing the RFP would relieve some pressure on staff to have it done immediately. Public Works Director Dan Kort agreed that moving the date back would be helpful.

Find Resolution 26-010 and supplemental materials in full, as well as the full recording of the Jan. 26 meeting, at www.cityofhomer-ak.gov/citycouncil/city-council-regular-meeting-356.