By Debby Woodin

dwoodin@joplinglobe.com

The Joplin City Council, which narrowly approved the construction of a trail in McClelland Park last month, will reconsider its decision after seeking the views of residents.

Mayor Pro Tem Mike Woolston said at the conclusion of Monday night’s regular meeting that he had been approached by some other council members about reconsidering spending the money on building a McClelland Park circular trail.

He introduced a motion to table the ordinance authorizing construction of the trail at a cost of $56,655 that the council approved 5-4 at a meeting Oct. 12. Woolston’s motion called for a public hearing on the trail to be held at the council’s next meeting on Nov. 16. The council approved the motion 8-1, with Melodee Colbert-Kean voting against it.

Lack of plan

After the meeting, Woolston said some council members have expressed concern about moving forward with the trail because of a lack of an overall plan for renovations at the park. He said there could be some other kind of trail that would be more beneficial, such as one linking the park to McIndoe and Wildcat parks.

He said a public hearing would allow residents to tell the council if they want the trail construction to proceed without waiting on an overall plan to be developed for the parks in the southern part of the city.

Turnout indicator

If residents don’t turn out for the hearing, that would indicate to the council that people don’t have a preference for the trail, Woolston said.

Asked if the council is obligated because trails in McClelland and Schifferdecker parks were listed as projects pledged when a quarter-cent sales tax for parks and stormwater projects was passed in 2001, Woolston said he believes the city should always do what it tells voters it will do. He said the city has built seven other trails, and that council members likely would agree to trails in Schifferdecker and McClelland parks once they have overall plans for them.

“I’m not necessarily saying we won’t go forward,” Woolston said, but by holding a public hearing, “It tells us which way they (residents) want it handled.”

A trail project for Schifferdecker Park at a cost of $166,618 was nixed by the council on Oct. 12.

Council member Bill Scearce had advocated building four softball fields at the Joplin Athletic Complex, and scrapping the Schifferdecker and McClelland trails.

Scearce said after Monday night’s meeting that he opposed building the Schifferdecker trail because there are questions about the future of some of the main structures in the park. He said that if the Joplin Museum Complex was moved out of the park, a practice area was built for the golf course, the former armory building was demolished or other major changes were made in or next to the park, it could result in tearing up a trail if one were built now.