Looks like the end of line for Old Red Bridge

Council talks city parks and trails

City parks and trails weren't on the Columbia Falls City Council's Sept. 6 agenda, but more than an hour was spent on the topic.

City manager Susan Nicosia reported that Flathead County Commissioner Jim Dupont has started looking at estimates for tearing down the historic Red Bridge. With funding problems affecting the likelihood of the bridge being refurbished as a footbridge, and the bridge posing safety hazards and aesthetic concerns, the city last month asked the county to repair the bridge or remove the structure.

Dupont told the Hungry Horse News last week a first "guesstimate" was for $500,000 to remove the bridge. A more recent estimate is $200,000, which includes removing the concrete footings. The soonest demolition would likely begin is next summer, he said.

• The primitive trail between the Red Bridge to the Cedar Pointe subdivision on South Nucleus Avenue drew more council discussion. The trail follows a city easement across Mark and Inge Cahill's property that was established by previous property owner Loren Kreck.

The Cahills reported two fishermen trespassed on their property. City attorney Justin Breck, however, said he's still investigating the legal definition of property rights along rivers in Montana.

The city also received two letters about the trail. Chet and Sheri Meadows, who moved to Third Avenue West in June, said they tried to keep an open mind and be impartial, but trail users have left trash, strayed from the trail, left their dogs unleashed and fished without permission.

"To put it plain and simple, although this is a great idea with good intentions, people have not respected our property," they said. "People do not care about the rules, and their complete disrespect for them is obvious."

Gene Sentz, of Choteau, who said he knew Kreck back in the 1960s, said he and his wife walked the trail recently and found it to be "splendidly quiet and pleasant."

"It is a shame, then, that at times some uncaring individuals have abused the area with trash and graffiti and have not respected the private property adjacent to the public trail," he wrote.

Sentz hoped the city, county and state could cooperate to refurbish the Red Bridge, but he recognized that might be a "pipe dream" in these economic times.

• Three residents complained about unleashed dogs at River's Edge Park. Erma Gladieux said 80 percent of people with dogs don't use leashes, which endangers smaller dogs and creates a dog waste problem across the park.

Much of the park is flooded or muddy, and the city needs to install footbridges or causeways to make the park more accessible, Gladieux added. She also criticized the Third Avenue East path, which will see construction begin this fall. Gladieux called the path a "waste of money" because it crosses the narrow road twice. She wanted the money for the new path to be transferred to park trail work.

Money for the Third Avenue path cannot be transferred to park trails, Nicosia said. A long-term plan exists for park trail development, but money is tight and there are priorities, she said.

• Mayor Don Barnhart said he received an interesting call from the Columbia Falls information center saying visitors didn't know where Marantette Park was, even though it's a stone's throw away.

The problem is the sign is gone. Nicosia said the former plywood sign rotted away, and public works crews have been tied up with street paving work. The council agreed signs were also needed for River's Edge, Horine and Depot parks.