A controversial plan to build a pedestrian trail in western St. Joseph County appears dead, at least for now.
Aiming to promote eco-tourism, the Midwest Continental Divide Trail was conceptualized and funded by a state bill signed into law last year by Gov. Mike Braun. It proposed linking the Indiana Dinosaur Museum, Potato Creek State Park, and the Pokagon Band’s South Bend land.
But property owners and farmers were alarmed by the idea, packing a North Liberty Town Council meeting Monday, even though it wasn’t on their agenda.
It had been slated for the county council’s next meeting agenda July 15, but that’s no longer happening. On Wednesday county council president Bryan Tanner confirmed that the county’s Infrastructure, Planning and Growth department, headed by county economic development director Bill Schalliol, has withdrawn a bill to create a commission to start the project.
“The public pushback and the criticisms that have been raised over the process, the master plan…” Tanner said when asked why Schalliol withdrew the bill.
Tanner says the trail would have largely used rights-of-way along the edges of private property, like abandoned railways, but he understands that people come to view that as their property because they maintain it.
