Salt Creek Trail Committee reorganization on hold

The Salt Creek Trail Committee is going to be regrouped — just not immediately.

At the Brown County Commissioners’ first meeting in November, commissioner Diana Biddle followed up on the pledge she made during the Salt Creek Trail community conversation Oct. 26. Residents at that meeting questioned the actions that the volunteer committee members had taken over the 10-plus years they’ve been working on building the Salt Creek Trail between the state park and downtown Nashville, and on whose authority.

Commissioner Jerry Pittman said that the committee’s role in developing the trail and how someone could get on the committee should be clarified.

It started as a fundraising committee, Biddle said. Through various changes among elected officials, information wasn’t always communicated about what the committee was doing.

“Whether we knew it or not, or whether our predecessors knew it or not, the commissioners were the ones on the hook (for the committee’s actions), but nobody seemed to know that,” Biddle said.

“They were all well-intentioned,” commissioner Dave Anderson said, in defense of the committee members. “They weren’t illegal.”

Resident Vivian Wolff questioned whether or not a committee was even needed anymore if its purpose was fundraising, since grant money to build the trail as planned is in place. Biddle said it is needed because the commissioners “can’t do everything”; the trail committee could be looked at like the courthouse committee — as an advisory group to the commissioners.

Resident Tim Clark suggested that the trail and all related documents be put into an addendum to the county’s comprehensive plan “so future commissioners aren’t surprised.”

Resident Julie Winn said the Brown County Area Plan Commission is allowed to appoint a citizens advisory committee for specific projects, and she thinks that would be a good way to organize it.

Resident Ken Birkemeier read a letter from his son, Kyle Birkemeier, expressing interest in participating in the trail development process.

The topic is back on the agenda for the Nov. 15 commissioners meeting, at 6 p.m. at the County Office Building.

Work underway to declare historic byway here

Brown County leaders are supporting the development of an official Indiana scenic byway, which would pass through this county and three others.

The Brown County Commissioners passed a resolution Nov. 1 supporting this concept.

They byway’s purpose is to “celebrate the history and culture of the region” and to point visitors toward points of interest along the route.

A scenic byway also has the dual purpose of prohibiting new, “off-premise” outdoor advertising along the route. That would include billboards and signs that are not physically on a business’s property.

The planned route goes through Hendricks, Morgan, Brown and Jackson counties. In Brown County, it runs along State Road 135, passing through Fruitdale, Bean Blossom, Nashville, the western edge of the Gnaw Bone area, Camp Roberts, Stone Head and Story.

Planning for it started in April 2016, according to the byway application. Brown County residents involved in the initial meetings were Ruth Reichmann, Diana Biddle and Rhonda Dunn.

There are already two Indiana scenic byways: U.S. 40/National Road to the north and U.S. 50/Indiana’s Historic Pathways to the south, the application says. This new, proposed north-south route would connect those two, providing another scenic alternative to interstate travel.

For the most part, the byway is intended to “capitalize on an already-existing tourism base,” but help direct those visitors to see other things other than the main draws of the state park and Nashville, the application says. It could help to extend tourists’ stays in the region, especially if it’s cross-promoted and marketed with other, existing tours such as Arts Road 46 (State Road 46 between Bloomington and Columbus), the Indiana Covered Bridge Loop and the Back Roads Studio Tour, the application says.

The application will have to be submitted to the lieutenant governor’s office before the new scenic byway would be official, Biddle said.