HANCOCK COUNTY — Hancock County has been awarded $670,803 in the second round of the state government’s Next Level Trails Grant program to add a 1.3-mile section to the Pennsy Trail.
Gov. Eric Holcomb and Department of Natural Resources director Dan Bortner announced the award in a press conference on Thursday, March 4, among awards to 18 communities and nonprofit organizations of $29.6 million. The grants will help create 70 miles of new trails.
“We’ve got so much beauty surrounding us, and we want to continue to invest in these very local projects,” Holcomb said.
Mary Ann Wietbrock of Pennsy Trails of Hancock County said the organization is excited to be chosen as one of the recipients in the program. The extension will add an asphalt trail between County Roads 600W and 500W. It is a step toward connecting trail systems in Greenfield and Cumberland.
The matching grant will cover 80% of the cost of the project, with the remaining 20% coming from the Pennsy Trail organization’s funds. Wietbrock said the Pennsy Trails organization will be fundraising to pay for its share of the cost.
Hancock County commissioner John Jessup congratulated Wietbrock’s organization on the grant award. The county government will act as the pass-through agent for the project, receiving funds from the state government and disbursing them to Pennsy Trails of Hancock County.
“The Pennsy Trail group spent a lot of hard work on that,” Jessup said.
The first round of the Next Level Trails program was held in May of 2019, but the second round was put on hold due to a shortage of state funds caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
In the first round of funding, the city of Greenfield received $699,200 to create the 1.4 mile Franklin Street Trail.
Holcomb said trails are more important than ever during the pandemic, as more people turn to outdoor exercise and recreation as ways of maintaining physical and mental health. Trails can also help attract new residents and even businesses to communities, he said.
“Trails always rank very high on someone’s local amenities list,” Holcomb said.
Bortner said a variety of factors was considered when choosing the recipients of this round of grants, like whether governments proposing trails were partnering with community organizations and whether proposed trails would connect two communities. A total of 62 applications were submitted.
A third round of Next Level Trails grants will be made available later this year, with $35 million to be allocated and applications opening in November. Bortner encouraged communities whose projects were not selected in this round to try applying again in the next one.
“The competition for this second round was tough,” he said.