Coalition begins making plans for a healthier Bourbon County

A local coalition is in the early stages of formulating a plan to create a healthier Bourbon County.

Members of the Healthy Bourbon County Action Team, city and county officials met Friday at Mercy Hospital Fort Scott to discuss the county's selection as a Pathways to Healthy Kansas community and a sizable grant the coalition received this summer to help their efforts.

Robert Johnson, director of consulting for PedNet Coalition, a nonprofit based in Columbia, Mo., gave a presentation at the meeting and discussed with attendees possible development of a bicycle and pedestrian master plan for the county.

Participants talked about ways for funding to be best utilized, as well as how any proposed plan would tie into current local street, sidewalk and highway projects, and existing community trails.

Johnson, who said he has worked on projects in 29 states, outlined the benefits of bike, pedestrian and walking school bus programs.

"The big benefit you have here is volunteers," Johnson said.

Members of the Fort Scott and Bourbon County commissions were invited to attend to get an initial glimpse of the proposal, which would create a plan for Bourbon County.

"We want to complete sidewalks and streets in Fort Scott," Jody Hoener, grant coordinator, said. "It would also entail county trails of Bourbon County and any railroad ways we can use still owned by the railroad company and haven't been given back to the property owners."

About $56,000 was used for a preliminary study that includes a bicycle and pedestrian master plan, a county trails plan and an Access to Healthy Foods component.

"We don't have real access to healthy foods and that opens up a lot more doors to funding," Hoener said.

Hoener said the $56,000 came out of the community policy fund and is "additional grant funds." She said she plans to give a small presentation to the Fort Scott City Commission at its Dec. 13 meeting "to get buy-in from commissioners."

"We hope city and county commissions adopt assessment strategies for the priorities they have put in place," Hoener said, adding commissions will determine what those priorities will be.

Johnson discussed similar bike and walking plans in other communities, such as a plan in Girard that is complete and a countywide plan in Crawford that will be complete soon. Communities develop plans of varied lengths, ranging from three years to 20 years.

"It's up to the government agency what they call it and how long (the plan)," Johnson said.

Johnson talked about the importance of these improvement plans on health, the environment and economic development. He said these plans can reduce driving costs and improve access to healthier options.

"Roads with no bike paths or sidewalks are the norm," he said.

In developing a final plan, organizers will need to look at current facilities and opportunities, collect data in the community, identify the most cost-effective projects and make a priority list, Johnson said. Next steps would be budgets and implementation, looking at funding opportunities and sources, and ways to possibly reduce implementation costs.

"You would dive deep into them for a detailed plan, and what's more likely to be built," he said.

The focus should be on plans that have the higher percentage of actually happening, Johnson said.

Team members discussed possibly coming up with a proposal that connects any new plans to existing resources and projects, such as community trails, street and sidewalk projects that are already in progress or in the works.