At the Pierce County ARPA Ad Hoc Committee meeting Tuesday, Aug. 22, Village of Spring Valley representatives made a plea for funds for a multi-use trail along Van Buren Road.

The committee’s purpose is to figure out how to appropriate the county’s $8.3 million in awarded American Rescue Plan Act funds. Four broad eligible uses for ARPA funds include:

• Revenue replacement for government services
• COVID-19 expenditures or negative economic impacts from COVID-19, including assistance to small businesses, households, hard-hit industries and economic recovery.
• Premium pay for essential workers.
• Investments in water, sewer and broadband infrastructure

Village Clerk Administrator Luann Emerson and Greg Adams from Cedar Corporation, the village’s engineering firm, spoke to the committee about the proposed trail project along Van Buren, which is book-ended by county roads CC and B. It would connect the trail along Highway 29 in the village to the Arneson Trail north of the village.

“Van Buren Road was built in the early 1990s when the only thing out there was a golf course and cemetery,” Emerson said. “Since then, we’ve added three neighborhoods, Mines Creek, Silver Fox, Red Fox, which is over 50 homes.”

The road is 22 feet wide, one mile long and in poor condition. It’s heavily traveled by vehicles, walkers and bikers and there is no sidewalk.

“The conditions for all the walkers is just unsafe,” Emerson said. “Any future development will make it more of a problem. The road is just a blacktop path is what it is. There’s barely room for two vehicles to pass. During the school year, it’s very heavily traveled. Kids on bikes, people pushing strollers. It’s the main artery to get from one end to the other.”

The proposal would add a new trail along Van Buren’s east side, running north/south, allowing for safe bicycle and pedestrian access and eliminating distractions for drivers.  

“It’s just as hazardous for the vehicles passing there as it is for the walkers and bikers,” Emerson noted. “At the north end of Van Buren at County Road B, it will cross over to meet with another trail.”

This leg of the trail would complete a loop connecting all Spring Valley neighborhoods, businesses, school property and downtown, which is part of the village’s 20-year comprehensive plan. The trail along Highway 29, built about 15 years ago, was a collaboration between the village, the school district and the Emerson noted that most of the school traffic uses Van Buren Road to get from the school campus on County Road CC to the sports fields, which are located south of the dam.

Adams said the trail would benefit Spring Valley and Pierce County residents by promoting sustainable travel and recreation opportunities. The trail would also provide better access to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Eau Galle Recreation Area and eventually tie into the Wildwood Trail that comes south from Woodville.

“Signs have been purchased to go up north to Wildwood Trail,” Emerson said. “That brings St. Croix County into Pierce County and connects the counties.”

The total cost of the project (road and bike path) is $1.46 million, which would be funded through retained capital funding and an $85,500 Department of Transportation grant. The village is asking Pierce County for $458,560.

Emerson said eventually, the village would like to partner with the school district to bring a trail to the school campus, but the school board voted it down last year.

“Some people want an underpass, but that is incredibly expensive and possibly impossible,” Emerson said. “The new village board wants to reinitiate talks. We did not succeed in getting DOT to reduce speed there (at Van Buren/County Road CC/Highway 29).”

The DOT grant required the project to be completed by June 2025.

“We keep running into roadblocks, but we keep pushing on. We’re bound and determined to get to the school,” Emerson said. “We had looked at crossing Crystal Cave property, but can’t because of the bat population.”

Committee Chair Jon Aubart asked how many kids attend the schools, which is roughly 1,000.

“It’s a little odd to me that the school district would just say no to this crossing,” Aubart said.

“There were one or two standouts that were very much against it. And now it’s just not in their budget this year,” Emerson said.

Project scoring

Since the committee’s inception, it’s received more than $34 million in requests for a piece of the county’s $8.3 million in appropriated ARPA funds. Some projects submitted have secured other funding or pulled their requests, said County Administrator Jason Matthys. He said Parks Superintendent Travis Campbell has asked for an answer on the Nugget Lake dredging project request so it can move forward.

“It feels like we should accelerate this,” said committee member Kris Sampson. “Even a portion would help some, if we don’t fund the whole project. It could be a one-time opportunity for things that the county would never fund, a great use for those funds.”

The committee will meet again at 9 a.m. Sept. 26.