The Kalispell City Council will include funding for a trail project at Lawrence Park in its preliminary budget for the coming year. During a work session Monday, several council members expressed support for the project, which would complete a full loop trail in the Kalispell park.

Trail construction is intended to increase connectivity and discourage transient activity in the area.

The city acquired the 16-acre property from the Knife River Corporation in 2017. Kalispell Parks and Recreation, with the help of the Montana Conservation Corps, Boy Scout troops and other community groups, installed trails in the new southern portion of the park over the course of about three years.

The initial interest in building trails there arose out of concerns about transient activities in the forested area, and the start of the trail system reportedly reduced the presence of homeless encampments around the trails. The original plan always intended for the creation of a full loop trail, but funding apparently wasn’t available to bring the trail full circle.

Last year, complaints about transient activity in the park were on the rise once again, and nearby residents told the Inter Lake last fall they found hundreds of needles in the wooded southern section of Lawrence Park.

In light of these troubling revelations, Parks Director Chad Fincher proposed the council recommit to finishing the loop trails.

The plan would include a potential budget of $24,598, and Fincher outlined a three-year plan for full buildout. The city would rely on the Conservation Corps to once again do the trail work, but the earliest MCC could start building the trails would be spring 2022.

The scope of the project currently calls for trail construction, weed spraying and installation of benches and signage. City Manager Doug Russell mentioned the city might eventually seek grant funding to add additional amenities on the new section of trail.

Though there appeared to be widespread support for taking up the project, some council members raised questions.

Council member Sid Daoud inquired about the possibility of enlisting service groups in addition to the Montana Conservation Corps in an effort to try to move up the timeline, but city staff members said it looks unlikely that trail construction will move ahead before next spring. Friends of Lawrence Park, the group that previously worked on efforts in the park, is apparently dissolving, Fincher reported.

Daoud also proposed increasing vehicle access to the southern part of Lawrence Park, possibly in the form of a new parking lot, but the wet conditions in that area seem to pose a barrier to such development.

Council member Sam Nunnally asked about ideas to connect the Lawrence Park trails to the upcoming Kalispell Parkline Trail in downtown Kalispell, and others expressed support for this idea. However, those connections would require coordination with Flathead County, which owns the paved path into Lawrence Park from Whitefish Stage Road.

Councilman Kyle Waterman brought up the drug use issue that spurred this latest conversation about Lawrence Park. He suggested connecting with the Flathead City-County Board of Health to bring social services to people using the park to camp out and potentially developing a needle exchange site there. However, Russell had concerns about coordinating such an effort and attracting more drug users to the area.

Council member Ryan Hunter asked the council to consider the impacts this project might have on the wildlife habitat, since the subject area is a wetland. The only public commenter during the meeting, nearby resident Dave Landstrom, echoed Hunter’s concerns. Landstrom urged the council to take into account the “wildlife values” of Lawrence Park.

“That cannot be understated,” Landstrom affirmed. “It’s amazing wildlife value for such a small footprint and within city limits.”

He asked the city to think about its management plan for the habitat and communication with surrounding neighbors when it moves forward to incorporating the trail project in next year’s budget.

Reporter Bret Anne Serbin may be reached at (406)-758-4459 or bserbin@dailyinterlake.com.