Give them a break. And some shade.
That's what the city of Rosemount wants to do for walkers and bikers along trails and sidewalks in a neighborhood project that will add places to sit and rest while outdoors.
With an aging population and to encourage people to get outside and be active, city officials say the small "cutouts" around the city will include benches or stones for seating and plants or trees for shade and aesthetics.
Some will include areas where people can sit and enjoy the view of the outdoors.
"In the last two or three years, on some of our heavily used trails, I've noticed some people sitting on a power box because we don't have any place for anyone to take a rest while they're walking," said Rosemount Mayor Bill Droste. "When you build trails, especially when you can go a couple miles, you should have places that a resident shouldn't have to climb up on an electrical power box and sit there for a break."
The city set a target budget of $50,000 for the project, which will include 10 cutout areas, each one different from the next. Many will be placed in gravel instead of a more expensive material.
"It's unlikely that any two of the sites would have exactly the same cost because they're all going to be slightly different, depending upon what that particular site needs," said Tom Schuster, Rosemount parks supervisor. But, he added, "We're not going to go overboard on any of them."
The Parks and Recreation Department is putting together conceptual designs for several areas, and in the next couple of weeks the city will ask for bids from contractors, he said.