Post Falls To Apply For Trail Grant Would Connect Centennial Trail, Black Bay Park
It had taken about 50 years for Black Bay to become a real park - albeit an unimproved one - when it opened in 1995.
Now the city has only to wait a few more months to find out if a 12-foot-wide paved trail will snake through the park’s Ponderosa pines, adding the first recreational improvement to the park since the city bought the majority of the land in 1946.
The pathway would connect the Centennial Trail with the Spokane River, said David Fair, the city’s parks and recreation director.
He’s applying for a grant of about $64,000 from the Idaho Parks Board. That would pay for much of a 1-mile trail built to the same standards as the Centennial Trail that links Spokane and Coeur d’Alene.
The City Council pledged $35,000 in matching funds for the trail and about $40,000 for in-kind services such as using equipment and some materials the city has stockpiled.
“The Black Bay project is a real good one in my mind,” City Councilman Clay Larkin said. He serves on the committee that advises the Parks Board on which projects deserve grants.
“I tentatively pre-scored it, and I know it’s in the same range as projects that got granted last year,” he said.
Fair predicts the board will have more grant requests than money to fund them.
“There’s grant money out there, but it’s really hard to come by. If we could get it, that would be a real catalyst for the park.”
If the trail idea works out, it could lead to interest - and possibly donations or grants - in the other improvements Fair hopes will happen. He would like to see another 3/4 of a mile added to the trail, a community playground built on the east side of the park and tennis and basketball courts built on the north side.
Right now, the park’s open spaces have encouraged illegal uses like four-wheeling and motorcycling - a practice Fair hopes will cease once more legal users regularly use the park.
“If we catch them, we prosecute them,” he warned.
, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Map of area