POST FALLS - After the City Council walked the much-discussed stretch pegged for a paved pedestrian trail along Highway 41 Thursday night, the project's fate was expected to be then decided.

But it still remains cloudy.

Mayor Clay Larkin broke a rare council tie vote, deciding to send the project from Seltice Way to Mullan Avenue back to the Urban Renewal Agency to hold a public hearing on whether to amend the East Post Falls Urban Renewal District plan so the project is specifically included.

Larkin said patience is growing thin on the project - in the works for about three years - but he voted in the interest of public safety after contemplating for several seconds before deciding.

The URA is expected to consider the plan amendment this summer and it will likely come before the City Council in August, pending URA clearance.

"If (the project) isn't concluded in this calendar year, I don't think it will be," Larkin said. "Urban renewal, the ball is your court. You have two choices - either withdraw or move ahead with no guarantee of what will happen in August."

The project continues to be bantered, even after both boards signed a memorandum of understanding on the project and $75,000 in engineering costs with urban renewal funds have been spent.

Among the factors that have caused pause is the cost estimate, which was $982,000 at one point before the project was modified to bring it to $639,145. The cost is high because utilities would have to be relocated and a retaining wall would have to be built under the Interstate 90 overpass.

The boards are torn about the estimate for the quarter-mile stretch, since city urban renewal funds would be used on state property and pedestrian safety concerns.

Leaders have been also divided on whether the urban renewal district's purpose of increasing safety is sufficient enough for the project to go forward or if the project needs to be specifically stated in the urban renewal plan.

City attorney Nancy Stricklin recommended that the project be amended to the plan before moving on.

Council members Kerri Thoreson and Linda Wilhelm voted for sending the project back to urban renewal for an amendment, while Ron Jacobson and Joe Malloy voted against the motion. Council members Skip Hissong and Betty Ann Henderson were not present.

Mike Porcelli of the Idaho Transportation Department said the state doesn't have funding for the project and that it typically doesn't fund pedestrian trails anyway. He said when the Highway 41 interchange is improved, that will require a pedestrian route, but such a project is years away.

Usage on the trail, often referred to as a dirt "cow path" now, has increased and is expected to continue to do so as the south side of Post Falls grows.

Steve and Tyrone Brady of Post Falls walked by as the boards were checking out the trail.

"I bike and walk along here often and the cars come pretty close to you," Tyrone said.

Steve said he was surprised at the cost estimate, but believes it would be money well spent.

"A trail would make it safer and I think you'd see more people using it, too," he said.

At one part of the Ross Point intersection there is no device that give the pedestrians the right of way to cross, so they dart across when the coast is clear. There are also several hazards along the corridor, including utility boxes along the dirt path and plastic pipe sticking out of the ground.

Urban renewal board member Larry Carstensen was among those who first proposed the project about three years ago.

"I never dreamed in a million years that this project would take this long and take this much money," he said. "With the renewed discussion on the Greensferry overpass, I think I'd rather see the money spent on that."