Foothills Trail Blazing New Ground...Literally

The long struggle to complete Pierce County's Foothills Trail from South Prairie to Buckley got an important boost from the County Council on Monday, December 6th.

The Council finally gave up on years of trying to negotiate a crucial deal with South Prairie landowner and businessman Dwight Partin and voted to condemn a portion of his property needed to extend the trail beyond South Prairie.

If Partin doesn't agree to sell the property soon, the county will exercise eminent domain and pay Partin the fair market price determined by an independent appraisal.

That acquisition would be only the first of three needed to complete county ownership of the approximately two-mile route between the two towns, but it is the most problematic gap to fill.  So the council's decision to stop dithering with Partin was cheered by the Foothills Rails to Trails Coalition, which has long urged the county to solve the "Partin problem" by eminent domain if necessary.

The popular trail currently extends about 17 miles from the eastern city limits of Puyallup through Orting to South Prairie.  To expand beyond South Prairie, the trail must pass through Partin's RV and trailer park at the eastern terminus of the existing trail and cross South Prairie Creek.

At least a decade of off-again, on-gain talks between the county and Partin have gone nowhere, despite Partin's claims to be a willing seller. The County Council was poised to condemn the route through Partin's property in June but held off when Partin insisted that a deal was still within reach.  The lack of progress since then convinced the council to act this week.

Two other short sections of the trail route between South Prairie and Buckley remain privately owned, but county acquisition of those pieces is expected to be straightforward. Ironically, slightly more than a mile of paved trail, including four new bridges, is  already in place between the two towns, following an abandoned railroad grade.

But that section is an "orphan," with limited public access, until the county can acquire and construct the missing links. Once the completed trail reaches Buckley, which already has a popular section of paved trail, it can eventually link with King County's trail network in Enumclaw.

No funds for building trail between Buckley and South Prairie are in sight at this time.

But now it at least appears that the county is serious about acquiring the last missing pieces needed to reach Buckley and make full use of the most scenic portion of the entire trail route between Commencement Bay and Mount Rainier National Park.
For trail lovers, that's a nice thing to find under the Christmas tree.