The Line Creek Trail has won some awards recently and gotten a lot of good press. I usually don't bother with awards because I think accomplishments speak a lot louder than a plaque on a wall or sitting in a drawer. However, thanks to Jenni Mann at Hunt Midwest who did 95% of the application, the Line Creek Trail was named a 2014 KC Business Journal Capstone Award winner and a finalist for The Economic Development Corportation's Cornerstone Award. (I don't think it will beat the penguins, we have chickens and beavers but they aren't as cute).
While I'd like to claim all the credit, I really can't.
To set up the analogy, I need you to remember that my engineering/MBA/farm background has created a brain that is always analyzing things and how they can be done better which is why I can relate this to the circus. Whenever Ringling Brothers is in town, we go. Have you ever noticed all the guys/gals in black pants/shirts just hanging around the floor looking like secret service agents? Those are the people that break down the circus floor and make the floor go from a trapeze swing to the lion cage to the gymnastic floor. You don't see them because the dude in the suit with the hollywood voice has the light shining on him to distract from the workers moving things around in the dark. Everyone is paying attention to the bright light while 50 or so support people are doing the hard work. When I go to the circus, that's usually what I am watching.
In the circus of the Line Creek Trail, I am the ringleader. If you are out enjoying the trail, I just wanted to let you know that there were a bunch of people who made it the success that it is today.
First off, I want to thank former Platte County Commissioner Tom Pryor. Tom mentioned to current Councilman Russ Johnson when he was on the Public Improvements Advisory Committee (PIAC) after a Platte County Parks Partners meeting that there was a trail already running along the west side of Line Creek. Johnson had asked when we'd ever have a trail along Line Creek if we were going to be complacent and wait to build one along the planned Line Creek Parkway.
I've mentioned earlier how Johnson drug me out there on a miserable July day and we saw the potential. I want to thank Kyle Elliot in the KCMO Planning Department who showed me the 1964 aerials that showed that the old trail used to be an old road. After we figured out that the trail was doable, a group joined us on a Saturday because we wanted to get everyone on board with figuring out a way to get this done. I don't remember everyone who was there but I do recall Margie Maasen, Neil Davidson, Mike Herron, Steve Noble, Brian Nowotny were there.
I need to thank Nelsie Sweeney who was Johnson's counterpart on the PIAC who agreed to fund the planning for the trail including Second Creek so someday one could go from Riverside to Smithville. Sweeney met me out on the site one day wearing sandals on her way to a hearing and she didn't mind getting her feet muddy and wet to take a quick look at the area. John Fairfield and Bonnie Sue Cooper were the councilpeople at that time when the planning was funded and they were on board.
After it was funded, it needed to be surveyed. A whole host of KCMO surveyors worked on the job but the one that did the most brush hacking was Don Reser with a little help from Tony Johnson. Don placed most of the boundary markers in the Robinhood Park area and was responsible for all of the boundary corner locates and legal descriptions which took a lot of time to find and required a lot of machette work to get lines of sight to survey them. Don eventually retired and Wayne Keller assumed the role of chief hacker with help from Lyndon Bragdon. When we started the segment into Riverside, the brush honeysuckle was so thick it was taking them a whole day to stake 200' of the trail so I borrowed Aaron Schmidt's chainsaw one day and went out and cut in front of them so they wouldn't have to spend so much time hacking and more time surveying. We finished staking 1200' in one day doing it this way.
The trail was built on easements from 20+ people. The stretch of street between 64th/68th Street was the old Dagget Road. I had a meeting and invited everyone to talk about the plan to make it a trail that they could drive on to access their property. Thanks to Marily Deister, Glen Stice, Randa Anderson, Kent Mayfield, Steve and Marsha Milke, Bob and Mary Shields, Dustin Stevens, Jewel Gibson and a few others for showing up.
I really need to thank Barb Cantrell, Mike Patillo, Marilyn Labuck, Rodney Wallace, Don Frank, and Ted Anderson who handled all the easement acquisitions from Rod and Theresa Kelly, John and Ann White, Sig Leftkovitz, Jim and Lucy Webb, Bill Mann, Pat Davis, the Morans, Loletta Lush, Dr. Ed Kavanaugh, the Erickson family and their counsel Patty Wilson/Randy Carlson, and anyone who was associated with easements that I don't recall right now.
Special thanks to Dr. Kavanaugh's receptionist (Cheryl I think) who I bugged every week for over a month trying to get a meeting with the orthodontist to discuss the project, John and Dave Barth, the Danner family, Walker Labrunie, the Morgan family, the Drieszenn family, Jim Harpool and Caprice James along other members of MD Management, their counsel Jim Bowers and Charlie Miller for all working with KCMO on the easements for trail that is currently under construction.
I need to thank KCMO employees Jade Liska, Deb Ridgway, Shannon Jaax, and others for leading the Trails KC plan which established the standards and connecting trails. My former bosses Patty Hilderbrand and Tom Degenhardt who let me wander out around in the woods figuring all this out. Richard Allen, April McCrary, Kevin Evans, Louis Cummings, Heidi Downer, Dan Smith, and everyone else in KCMO Parks that have helped me along the way. Brian Schroeder, Matt Thomas, Julie Jenson, Alex Ivanexcu, and others in the Water Department that helped me coordinating sewer work impacting the trail corridor. Meg Conger, Lisa Minardi, and Megan Hewitt and everyone that helped with news releases.
I also need to thank Brian Rabineau, Katie Chandler, Nelson Munoz, Stacy Perry in the Law Department and Mark Jones who helped me write the ordinances and agreements facilitating the construction of the trail. I need to thank Stan Harris and Greg Rokos for not firing me when some corners were cut to get the first phase of the project under construction. I need to thank the KCMO Human Relations Department for helping with paperwork before/during/after construction.
I also need to thank the outside design teams that helped me. Steve Rhoades of Vireo walked the entire Line/Second Creek corridor. The valley's own Lisa Treese helped Steve with the plans along with others in his firm. Valerie McCaw with VSM Engineering did the bridge/culvert crossing sizing. Roger Waltemath and Phil Strick with Veenstra and Kimm designed both bridges on the job. Todd Thalmann and the folks at Transystems made sure it all worked with improvements to 68th Street. Matt Kist and John Chamberlin with SK Design handled the retaining walls and hydraulics on the phase now under construction. Sabin Yanez and the folks at Cook Flatt and Strobel designed the I-29 under crossing.
There are also a bunch of folks who helped with permits and regulatory issues. Susan Loken with KCMO reviewed and issued the floodplain permit. Kailey Rippen, Craig Weltig, and Mark Frazier with the US Army Corps of Engineers handled the clean water permits. David Flick with Terra Technologies handled the streambank stabilization and permit applications on the south phase. Mark Kelly with K & K Environmental for doing some archaeology reports for permits. Gail Lundeen with KC Archaeology Society for walking the corridor within Line Creek Park. Gil and everyone with the National Center for Indigenous American Cultures. Mike Landvik, Marisela Ward, Rich Shipley, and Dave Luther with MoDOT handled the federal grant for the north portion under construction. The Mid-America Regional Council Transportation Enhancement didn't take away my grant becuase I was a month behind schedule obligating the federal funds. The folks at MARC, Aaron Bartlett, Heidi Schallberg, etc who reviewed, scored, and handled all the financial reporting of the grant portion of the project. Mike Sanders with MoDOT worked with his staff to get us a permit to build the trail under I-29. Chric Chancellor and Brian Forquer with Lutjen for the Kimpton tract easements.
I need to thank Councilman Ed Ford for sponsoring the ordinance in August that allowed the first part of the trail to be done and open by Thanksgiving of the same year. I also appreciate Eric Rogers, Margie Maasen, Craig Weltig, Steve Rhoades, Kathy Dusenberry, and others who gave of their time to offer public testimony in support of ordinanes.
A lot of folks helped with building the trail. Aaron Schmidt and Terry Owens with Hunt Midwest, Jason, Marc Cook, Eric Spiller, Aaron, Barry and everyone at Randy Spalding Excavating, Monte Freeman, the crabby old foreman and the concrete finishers with Freeman Concrete, Billy White and the crews at White and Sons, Jamie Kidwell and the concrete guys with JK Concrete, Rusty and Seten etal with Realm Concrete, crazy Kevin, Mike Bader, etal with Redford Construction, Bob Carraway with Best Fence Company, and Ed Childs and all the guys working right now for National Streetscape on the final gap.
I also need to thank Mayor Kathy Rose, Brett Miles, Julie Rule, Travis Hoover, and Mike Duffy everyone with the City of Riverside who partnered with KCMO to get the trail connected. I also need to thank the Platte County Commission, Jason Brown, Kathy Dusenberry, and Jim Plunkett who helped with funding the KCMO/Riverside portion because without that partnership, we would still be working on finding money to finish the last part. Current PIAC member Chris Byrd deserves some credit for pulling this deal off.
I know I have missed some people and want to say that I am sorry. I typed all of this while trying to get a toddler to sleep so the thoughts won't flow. I just want everyone to know that there are a lot of people who helped make the Line Creek Trail what it is today and for that I am greatly appreciative.
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