SANDPOINT – The city council voted to renew the watershed trails license agreement between the city and Pend Oreille Pedalers at the meeting on Wednesday.

At Wednesday’s council meeting Parks and Planning Development manager Maeve Nevins-Lavtar presented the revised agreement for the council to vote on which would maintain POP as the stewards of the trails within Little Sandcreek Watershed, a position the organization has held since 2015.

POP is a local trail preservation organization that started as a bicycle club in 2004. Since then, the club has turned into a non-profit organization working toward the preservation and maintenance of existing bicycle trails and other trails used for recreation.

The agreement will see POP working with the city on the maintenance of the trails, with the city and POP inspecting trails to assess the conditions. Afterward, POP will submit a maintenance management plan for the city’s approval. This plan will be made and submitted with the intention of focusing on seasonal cleanup and a priority list based on prioritizing criteria established by the U.S. Forest Service.

“We have revised and updated this license agreement to include a little bit more robust language underneath the maintenance portion,” Nevins-Lavtar said

While this agreement is meant to cover a year-long period, Nevins-Lavtar said this agreement will be replaced by a whole new agreement upon the completion of the recreation master plan, as it will include recommendations from the plan.

“I don’t want to call this anything more than a bridge to get us to the completion of the recreation master plan,” Nevins-Lavtar said.

In her presentation, Nevins-Lavtar gave the council the highlights of the revision, which included a tiered plan submitted by POP. The first tier will cover high-priority projects and the second will cover projects “as they pop up,” as the second tier will require inspections of the area in question, with a solution then presented by POP.

Following the presentation, the council approved the license agreement before expressing gratitude to POP and Nevins-Lavtar for their work.

“I have been waiting so long to have somebody like you here who is putting all the pieces together. I’m excited for you,” council member Kate McAlister said. “It seems like you’re very excited about this piece of your job.”

“This is 400-plus volunteer hours, that contributes to $12,000 this year, and almost $84,000 year to date,’ councilman Andy Groat said. “The heart passion and resilience of volunteers for a passion project like this is priceless. So, POP, thank you very much.”