Gilroy will receive a new paved trail near Antonio Del Buono
Elementary School and improvements to Little Arthur Creek after
receiving more than $200,000 in grant money from the Santa Clara
Valley Water District this week.
Gilroy will receive a new paved trail near Antonio Del Buono Elementary School and improvements to Little Arthur Creek after receiving more than $200,000 in grant money from the Santa Clara Valley Water District this week.
The water district approved a $249,550 grant to create a parkway trail along Lions Creek between Wren and Kern avenues. It also approved a $24,523 grant to the nonprofit Trout Unlimited to work with landowners to ensure that Little Arthur Creek has enough water during dry months.
The trails program, which provided money for Lions Creek, and the Environmental Enhancement Program, which provided money for Little Arthur Creek, are supported by Measure B, a parcel tax for creek safety and flood protection approved by Santa Clara Valley Water District voters in 2000. The water district previously allocated Measure B money for projects in 2003 and 2005, project manager Brian Mendenhall said.
Chris Côté, who has worked on both projects as a member of the water district’s Environmental Advisory Commission, said this is the first time Gilroy has benefited from Measure B.
That was one of the reasons it was so important that Gilroy benefit from the program this time around, Mendenhall said.
“It is important to the district and the board that we have geographic distribution across the grant programs,” he said.
The total cost of the 0.6-mile Lions Creek project, which will create two trail sections on a current maintenance road, is $1.657 million. The Little Arthur Creek project will cost $49,203.
The City of Morgan Hall also obtained $100,275 last week from the water district’s trails program for the three-mile Madrone Channel Trail. The new unpaved trail, which will use a current maintenance road, will include access points at Cochrane Road and Main, Dunne and Tennant avenues. The total cost of the project is about $200,000.
In addition, that city obtained $72,202 for an Environmental Enhancement Project at Llagas Creek and Olive Avenue. The project, which will cost $118,281, entails getting rid of invasive plants along the creek bed to allow native plants can flourish.
