Edina trail to follow the creek

After more than 18 months of debate, studies and meetings, the Edina City Council has unanimously approved a creek-based route for a walking and biking trail that will cross the western suburbs and provide a critical link to other recreational trails in the area.

The Tuesday night vote on the Nine Mile Creek Regional Trail followed more than two hours of public testimony by 50 people that showed the sharp split in community opinion. Although a city survey has shown that more walking and biking trails are the top recreational priority for Edina residents, some worry that a trail will bring crime, declining property values and environmental damage. Others predict a trail will be a much-loved amenity.

Mayor Jim Hovland called the issue "gut-wrenching."

"This is one of the most significant and controversial issues for us ... in the last 10 years," he said.

Council approval means that the trail has cleared its biggest hurdle outside of acquiring the estimated $20 million needed to build 7.5 miles of trail through the city. Construction has already started on trail sections to the north in Hopkins and to the east in Richfield. Eventually the trail, which will be part of Three Rivers Park District, will reach the Minnesota River in Bloomington.

The trail would run through wetlands in Edina's northwest corner and along public right-of-way on the creek; 243 residences next to the creek would be affected. The trail would be an average of 175 feet from those homes, but a few would be as close as 25 feet.

In discussions earlier this year, community debate focused on a creek-based option and one that more closely followed city streets. The latter route would have touched 147 yards.

The resolution shifts the trail route south in Walnut Ridge Park to push it nearer the creek and away from homes and a hockey arena.

Edina residents send about $3.5 million in taxes each year to Three Rivers, and some of that money would be used to finance park district bonds for the trail. Three Rivers also would seek Metropolitan Council grants and state and federal funds. Park officials may not know until March 2012 whether it has won key federal funding for the project. The trail might not be done until 2015 or 2016, officials said.

The route still needs approval by the Three Rivers board and Nine Mile Creek Watershed District, which plans to do creek restoration work at the same time the trail is built. Because the route crosses public school land, the trail also needs Edina School Board approval.