Just as local businesses were lining up to do a barn rising for the sidewalk along Carroll Road, a federal grant comes along and saves the day. A few weeks after atGeist.com published an update in August entitled “Carroll Road Sidewalk is Becoming a Reality,” the Town of McCordsville submitted another grant request to the Indianapolis Metropolitan Planning Organization to get funding for the 990-foot long sidewalk. This time, the grant was approved.
What’s being called the “Tri-County Connector” now has some funding for a project estimated to cost $207,915; however, there are still some shorter hurdles to overcome.
- The grant requires a 20 percent match from the Town of McCordsville and does not cover preliminary work or engineering. Simply put, the Town of McCordsville has to cover about $54,000, and they budgeted only $26,000 for the project. To help cover this gap, Geist Harbours Property Owners Association (“GHPOA”) voted to approve $20,000 from the 2013 operating budget to help McCordsville offset these extra costs.
- The grant only covers the Hancock County portion of the trail which is roughly the northern 800’ of the 990’ sidewalk. The southern portion, which is technically in Marion County, is not included in the grant. Therefore, GHPOA and/or other organizations will have to come up with the funds to pay for the southernmost piece of the project.
- Since the funds are coming from a federal grant, the process is more time-consuming and will require a longer timeline to completion. This pushes the completion date back until late 2014 or early 2015, given there are no hiccups in the process.
To stay up-to-date on this project, visit www.atGeist.com or download the Townies Super Local App to your smartphone or tablet. We will be posting updates online and to our Facebook page (/atGeist) and Twitter feed (@atGeist).
