City stops pursuit of TxDOT grants for trails, sidewalks

After submitting a preliminary application to the Texas Department of Transportation for a hike and bike trail and sidewalks on Hwy. 16, the Graham City Council withdrew from the grant process.

The Transportation Alternative Set-Aside (TA) Program from TxDOT is administered for bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure projects in communities. Graham was one of 247 entities that submitted a total of more than $1.1 billion in grant funding requests from TxDOT.

After reviewing the preliminary applications and holding meetings with the project sponsors, a majority of the entities were advanced to the second phase of the grant process.

“The city has been invited to submit a detailed application for phase two of this grant application process,” City Manager Eric Garretty said Thursday, May 8. “There is no guarantee that the city will be awarded a grant or that TxDOT will financially sponsor either project.”

The application for phase two requires the support of an engineer to prepare. The city council took no action on a budget amendment of up $40,000 from the general fund reserve to prepare a detailed grant application for both projects.

“The city manager estimates that the total project cost for these two projects will be $2.3 million but the engineer could potentially give us a more refined estimate,” Garretty said. “Without TxDOT sponsorship of either project the city, if awarded both grants, is potentially committing to matching funds of $460,000 over the next two years.”

The grant requires a 20% match from the city of Graham. TxDOT can sponsor the matching portion of the grant as well, but it was stated in a previous meeting that they would be unlikely to sponsor both projects.

Without a commitment from TxDOT to sponsor the project, Mayor Alex Heartfield said he did not want the city to be in a commitment to spend $460,000 over a period of two years.

“I don’t want to spend the $40,000 unless we know that we can get the guarantee (from TxDOT), or at least we can back out without having to spend any money,” Heartfield said.

Garretty said $40,000 is available in the parks special fund for the engineering services. 

City Council Member Jack Little was also against spending $40,000 for the possibility of getting the grant.

“If we do get the grant then we have to come up with $400,000 and spread it out over two years. I can’t see us doing that right now. We have too many core needs that the city needs,” Little said. 

The city manager said if TxDOT did not match the 20% required, the trail project would have to take funding from the general fund reserves and would have to reduce the streets repaving budget to fund that match. 

“I’m a little concerned with what the council would have to do and what citizens would think if we reduced some area of the budget or dipped into our reserves to make this happen,” Garretty said. “…I’m not against it, but with what we know we got coming, …things that are really bearing down on us, I really have concerns about committing ourselves to that half-million dollars minimum to make these projects happen.” 

The city proposed two projects under the grant, the first being a 5-foot sidewalk on both sides of Elm Street from South Street to Walmart Drive. Additional sidewalks are being proposed to connect to existing sidewalks on Cherry Street and Calaveras Street.

The other project the city wants to apply for is a Salt Creek hike and bike trail from Shawnee Springs Park to Firemen’s Park. The project will construct a paved, shared use path that follows Salt Creek for approximately three miles and connects the two parks.

The city council took no action on the motion to authorize the city manager to appropriate up to $40,000 from the general fund reserve for engineering services for the grants. 

The city council further directed the city manager to withdraw from the application process for the two grants.