The results are in! Your favorite pathway corridors in Valley County

Donnelly Elementary kids enjoy the Boulder Creek Trail near Donnelly.

Our public survey on people’s favorite pathway corridors between Cascade and New Meadows has closed. Thank you for participating!

We asked people to pick their top 3 highest priorities for the development of non-motorized pedestrian pathway corridors between Cascade, Donnelly, Lake Fork, McCall and New Meadows.  VCP officials also went to numerous public meetings and presented our long-range plan and options for development. The public outreach came following a feasibility study on singletrack sidewalks by the IMBA.

The study recommended the development of 70 miles of singletrack sidewalks in the valley. These would be walking and trails for local residents and tourists to enjoy.

And now, drum roll please, here are the results:

For McCall and surrounding areas:

1. Extend the North Valley Trail south toward Donnelly via Norwood or Nisula, 54%
2. Farm to Market Road from McCall to Roseberry, 29%
3. West Mountain south to Tamarack and Cascade, 16.6%.
4. Creating a singletrack sidewalk on Samson Trail going south of McCall to the Carefree subdivision was also indicated as a high priority.

For Donnelly and surrounding areas:

1. Near dead heat between W. Roseberry to West Mountain to McCall on the west side of the valley (47%) vs. E. Roseberry to Norwood and the North Valley Trail to McCall (44%).
2.  Third choice, Roseberry to Farm to Market to McCall.

For Cascade and surrounding areas:

1. Extend the Crown Point Trail north toward Donnelly, 64%
2. Cabarton Road to Smith’s Ferry, 25%
3. West Mountain Road to Tamarack and Donnelly, 12.5%

For New Meadows and surrounding areas:

1. Near dead heat between 1. Connecting from New Meadows to U.S. 95 and the Weiser River Trail, and 2, from Cemetery Road, connecting to Brundage, Bear Basin Trails and McCall.
   3. Find a route from New Meadows to Fish Lake Road, Bear Basin Trails and McCall.

The surveys were facilitated by Andrew Mentzer, a VCP board member, and executive director of the West Central Mountains Economic Development Council. Thanks Andrew!

Our next steps are to craft a Singletrack Sidewalks ordinance to be considered by the Valley County Planning & Zoning Commission, go through the process of getting that vetted, and then set our priorities for pathway development. The ordinance would guide how singletrack sidewalks would be developed along public road right of ways in Valley County.

Valley County P&Z has scheduled a public hearing on the ordinance on Dec. 12, 2019 at 6 p.m. If you’d like to send a letter of support, please do so to Cynda Herrick, P&Z Administrator,  [email protected]. Thank you!

– Steve Stuebner