Work resumes on Flint Hills Trail

Volunteers have begun working on the Flint Hills Trail in eastern Franklin County.

Lisa Johnson, interim county administrator, told Franklin County Commissioners Wednesday she has been informed work is resuming on the trail, which will be hooked up to a segment in Miami County.

A representative of the Kanza Trail Conservancy, which is developing the trail, also asked about the group’s offer to post bond, Johnson said.

Commissioners had no response.

The Flint Hills Trail is being developed along 117 miles of an abandoned Missouri Pacific railroad right of way from Herington to Osawatomie. Thirty miles of the right-of-way goes through Franklin County and goes through the heart of Ottawa.

Unlike the Prairie Spirit Trail, which is owned by the state, the Flint Hill Trail is being developed by the Kanza Trail Conservancy, a non-profit group.

By law, the group must post a bond with each county the trail runs through; however, Franklin County has declined to accept a bond agreement with the group. The trail group has said that state and federal laws also require the group to maintain and work on the trail regardless of bond and other requirements.

In earlier meetings, commissioners decided not to work out a bond agreement in deference to Miami County.

The trail group and the Miami County commissioners, prodded by property-rights activists who say the right-of-way should be given to neighboring property owners, are embroiled in a court battle concerning the county’s efforts to halt work on the trail.

A jury trial in the dispute was scheduled for this week but was rescheduled for this fall, Johnson said.

Franklin County commissioners, who have heard from many of the same property-rights activists, have shown little enthusiasm for the trail.