Trail study moves ahead

Saying they heard and responded to the objections from residents in January, Montgomery County planners held their second public meeting on the proposed Swamp Creek Greenway and Trail on March 30 to showcase the changes they’ve made.

As proposed, the greenway and trail through the Swamp Creek Valley would stretch across 5,000 acres from Schwenksville to New Hanover.

The proposal is currently in the “feasibility study” phase after which, if the project is deemed feasible, will then proceed to identifying possible funding and only after that has been secured, will it move on to design, engineering and construction.

In the meantime, the concept has changed since gathering public input fromthe firstmeeting in January.

“We dramatically cut back on the proposed trails and adjusted the scope of the project to reflect the concerns raised at the meeting,” Michael Stokes, assistant director of the planning commis- sion, wrote in an email to Digital First Media Wednesday.

He wrote that “the anti-trail sentiment is still rather strong among the 130-or-so attendees,” adding that “of particular concern is the proposed on-road bike routes.”

But the on-road bike routes are due, in part to the proposal’s latest version in which “any proposed trail lines previously shown on private property (have been taken) off the trail maps.”

Use of private property for walking and biking trails that were part of the original feasibility study presentation were a point of extreme contention at the January gathering.

The county already owns about 60 percent of the property that would comprise the greenway and host the trail.

Another change which resulted from the first public input session was an increased priority on making historic Sunrise Mill, built in 1767, more accessible to the public sooner.

Many speakers at the previous meeting had balked at the idea of building an extensive trail network without devoting resources to improving access to the his--

toric mill, which the county has owned since the 1971,

but it is not restored or open to the public.

A third major change is to extend the amount of time the county will take to conclude the feasibility study. Originally set to be

completed in June, the process will now continue into October and a fourth meeting to gather public input has been added as well.

The third public meeting will be on June 15 from6 to

8 p.m. at Perkiomen Valley Middle School-West and the last meeting is scheduled for Oct. 5.

Also, an additional five people have been added to the committee overseeing

the effort as well.

That committee includes county officials, representatives from involved nonprofits like the Girls Scouts, Natural Lands Trust, the Perk io men Watershed Con-

servancy, as well as officials from the affected municipalities — Limerick, Lower Frederick, Upper Frederick, New Hanover, Schwenksville and Perkiomen Valley Schools.