COEUR d'ALENE — Even with recent funding to extend the trail along U.S. 95 north of Hayden, it remains unclear if the project will happen because commissioners disagree whether the county should assume the maintenance.

Commissioners Chris Fillios and Marc Eberlein had differing views — at times heated — on the Idaho Transportation Department's request Thursday to have Kootenai County assume maintenance of the trail for about 12 miles to make the project a reality.

Commissioner Bob Bingham was not present due to an illness.

While a vote wasn't taken on Thursday, it was obvious that Fillios and Eberlein would have voted differently. Fillios said he'll likely bring ITD's proposal back when all three commissioners can vote on the proposal.

Damon Allen, ITD's district engineer, said in order to include the trail extension with other U.S. 95 projects that will be funded with recently secured federal dollars, ITD needs local-state agreements with public agencies to maintain the trail first.

"It can be a hard decision for the locals, but this is an opportunity to leverage federal aid," he said. "We're here to offer that opportunity. But we won't build bike paths unless there's an ownership of maintenance."

Allen said the commission's pause over ITD's request is rare, as most North Idaho cities readily sign on to maintenance agreements.

Nick Snyder, Kootenai County's parks and waterways director, estimated it would cost the county $3,000 a year to maintain the trail, including mowing, cleaning and snow removal. The proposed trail on the east side of U.S. 95 would run from Garwood to Trails End Road in Bonner County. Kootenai County would be responsible for the trail to its own county line.

Eberlein said he doesn't believe the county should rush into a decision before checking whether other agencies can share with the trail maintenance cost.

"I'm interested in buy-in from the rest of the community," he said. "I want this to be sorted out better before I jump into more commitments. There is a cost and I want to see how this shakes out."

Fillios said he's on board with ITD's request and believes extending the trail would boost economic development, not to mention providing another recreation opportunity for the public and improving the quality of life.

"I see limited to no risk," he said, adding the cost would be minimal compared to the county's overall budget. "I have no issue with this and I'm on board."

Allen said ITD would also like to get rid of maintaining the existing trail from Appleway Avenue in Coeur d'Alene to Highway 53. It is the only trail that ITD maintains in the state and predates the state's policy of not building trails without a maintenance agreement with local or county governments. Allen said ITD is in the business of moving traffic, not maintaining outdoor trails like city and county governments do.

Coeur d'Alene has agreed to maintain its portion of the trail. Hayden was interested, but backed out due to financial constraints, officials said.

There is no specific timeline for construction of the new trail as it is contingent upon reaching a maintenance agreement.

Meanwhile, Allen said ITD plans to rehabilitate the existing 9-mile trail along the east side of U.S. 95 between Appleway Avenue in Coeur d'Alene and Garwood Road north of Hayden in 2019 — regardless of whether it has any trail maintenance agreements.

Doug Eastwood, a board member of the North Idaho Centennial Tail Foundation, which promotes non-motorized recreation trails throughout the area, said the existing trail was constructed in the early ‘80s and has been largely unkept.

"It's almost not usable," Eastwood said. "It's very poor for bicyclists and not even that great for walking any longer."

The estimated cost is $1 million. Funding is available from a grant ITD was awarded last year for a larger project to improve the U.S. 95 corridor that also includes adding more turn lanes to access side streets, removing some signals and adding others in 2019.

Eastwood said he and other trail foundation board members attended Thursday's meeting to hear for themselves the commissioners' thoughts for the proposal because funding for a similar project was pulled by the Idaho Transportation Board five years ago.

Eastwood said the trail foundation can't be responsible for the trail maintenance because the grant requires that other government agencies perform such services for surety.

"A foundation could dissolve any day and who would be left holding the bag?" he said. "But agencies such as Coeur d'Alene and Kootenai County are never going away."

Megan Sausser, ITD spokeswoman, added: "Since trails are public facilities, they must be managed by a governmental organization. A private organization could take over maintenance if it was sponsored by a governmental organization that was ultimately accountable for the maintenance. Maintenance is a permanent commitment, and thus a permanent organization must be responsible for a trail's care."

Eastwood, formerly Coeur d'Alene's parks and recreation director, said it's disheartening that an opportunity to leverage federal dollars is cloudy because trail maintenance costs are minimal. He said this would be a huge step toward connecting Coeur d'Alene to Sandpoint with a recreation trail.