The North Fork Blog
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Earth Day Cleanup on the Riverfront
Press Release Apr 7 2010Calling all community volunteers!
Help clean-up the North Fork riverfront in Norfolk, NE on April 24th, 9 AM - noon.
For more information visit the Norfolk Area Chamber of Commerce Events website for further details and registration form.
Read more about the project in the Special to Daily News article on surveying the area and removing volunteer trees and pruning those that should be kept.
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Area Resident Explores Latest San Antonio Riverwalk Developments
Press Release Apr 7 2010Norfolk resident, Cheryl Johnson, recently visited the latest extension of the San Antonio's riverwalk and their new dual path. This is probably closer to what could be invisioned for a riverfront development along the North Fork of the Elkhorn River in the middle of the downtown district and connected neighborhoods. Check out some of these latest riverfront images and visualize these paths and features along the North Fork.
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Plan for Parks to Focus on Greenways--Trails and Open Space Connections
Press Release Jan 20 2010The city of Knoxville and Knox County have worked together for three years on a new parks and recreation plan, and public input into the plan made one thing a top priority: residents want more greenways.
Greenways are trails and open space — often along waterways — that connect parks, schools and other recreation areas. They provide a pathway for walking and bicycling.
“The key thing that has come out of the plan is the connection of greenways,” said Doug Bataille, Knox County parks and recreation director. “Everybody likes the greenway system. We have a lot of pieces spreading throughout the county, and people would like to see those pieces connected. There’s also a demand for more sports fields, mountain bike trails, dog parks and skate parks. … But the greenways was the big one that really stood out.”
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Nebraska Game and Parks Commission Announces Recreational Trails Program Funding
Press Release Jan 20 2010Lincoln Journal Star reports on Nebraska Game and Parks awards of nearly $1.1 million in federal grants for trails and parks. The program requires the applicants to provide a 20 percent match.
The commission approved about $182,000 in federal grants through the Land and Water Conservation Fund. The National Park Service provides the funding and grants are awarded based on service criteria. The program requires a 50 percent match from grant recipients.
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Preserve Norfolk, a Historical Preservation Community Action Committee
Press Release Jan 11 2010The first meeting of "Preserve Norfolk", a historical preservation community action committee, visited the Karl Stefan Memorial Airport Terminal and listened and discussed the Historical Preservation 101 presentation by a Nebraska Historical Society officer originally from Norfolk. Please refer to the following presentation (PDF formatted).
http://www.visioning2026.com/docs/Introduction to Preservation 101 - PP2003 version.pdf
http://www.norfolkairportservices.com/
http://www.airnav.com/airport/KOFK/NORFOLK_AIRPORT_SVCS
The meeting was originally announced in the Norfolk Daily News Article, Preserving historic properties goal of new group, 1/8/2010, written by Cheryl Schmeckpeper, a board member of the Nebraska Historical Society.
The next meeting is scheduled for February 14, 2010, at the McMill Building, the former Norfolk Post Office, with a tour starting at 1:30 PM and a presentation at 3 PM.
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Norfolk Elkhorn River Trail Receives Grant Funding
Press Release Dec 23 2009NORFOLK ELKHORN RIVER TRAIL
The City of Norfolk was recommended for funding in the amount of $500,000 for the design and construction of the Elkhorn River Trail. This bicycle/pedestrian trail starts at the east end of the Cowboy Trail Extension and extends 6,100 feet to the east. The trail travels through Ta-Ha-Zouka Park along an existing park maintenance road and ends at 1st Street. The concrete surfaced trail will be 10-feet wide and 6-inches thick and includes a pre-fabricated bridge across an existing drainage channel. Also funded as part of this project, is a concrete trailhead which is 40’ x 80’ and includes 20 parking stalls. The trailhead will be located at the ending point of the trail at 1st Street.Ta-Ha-Zouka Park consists of 99 heavily shaded acres along the Elkhorn River. This project provides connection to rental cabins, public campgrounds, restrooms, canoe access to the river, a recently renovated lagoon with handicapped fishing platform, volleyball court and softball field. Located further east in the newer park addition is a 24-court horseshoe complex, three-field softball complex, five field youth ball complex, a 19-hole disc golf course, and a boat launch at 1st Street. The City of Norfolk is providing a 25 percent local match of $175,054.
The Cowboy Trail is the longest rail to trail network in the United States.
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Congressional Funding for 'Walk for a Day'
Press Release Dec 15 2009Austin, TX receives $300,000 for trail head development through federal funding and their congressman. These federal dollars will be used to design and engineer the trailheads — the ‘doorways’ to the trail for long-distance recreational users, neighborhoods, and trail users in general. Northfork Riverwalk with connection to Cowboy Trail could be an excellent future project for our community.
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2009 Annual Board Meeting Slide Presentation
Press Release Dec 9 2009Jim Miller has asked Mark Hall to provide a presentation, about 10 minutes on “History in Review”.
“History in Review--A Vision to the Future”
“Bringing Fun Back to the River—Getting to the Water’s Edge”
The Last Year
• Signed Contract with HDR for Tasks 1 and 2
• Community and HDR River Corridor Orientation—Kickoff (Logo Announced)
• Stakeholders Interviews
• Community Visioning Workshop using SWOT
• Summary Report
• Partnering with Norfolk SID on Mill Dam Spillway Bank Stabilization
• Fund Raising—Professional Brochure
What Did We Learn
• Public/Private Projects Around the Country
• Significant Community Buy-in and Resource Commitments
• Community Inputs
• HDR Economics and Demographic Trends
• Assessed Value of Properties (small subset) -
City’s Park and Recreation Master Plan On-line Survey
Press Release Dec 9 2009The consulting firm that is developing the City’s Park and Recreation Master Plan created an on-line survey for area residents to complete.
Please take a few minutes to complete the survey. There is a text link near the bottom of the website page that will direct you to the survey.
http://www.communityredesigned.com/norfolkparks/index.html
There is a specific survey question that asks whether you support the NorthFork Riverwalk Development Project (Strongly Agree, Agree, No Opinion, Disagree, Strongly Disagree). We would appreciate your Strongly Agree vote. :-))
Here are a couple interesting references you might think about during this holiday season.
1. Imagine transforming Johnson Park using public art and nature http://tinyurl.com/PublicArtinPark http://tinyurl.com/IslandGarden
2. Improve the accessibility, quality, and quantity of play and play spaces for children http://tinyurl.com/PlayMatters
3. Expansion of trails in existing park generating lots of dialogue on the pros and cons http://tinyurl.com/ParkTrails
4. Trend--Cities closing recreation facilities that traditional lose money. http://tinyurl.com/RecreationDrainingBudgets
5. How can we encourage innovation on a local level? What is your idea? An Innovation Agenda - http://bit.ly/4IEKGf
6. Annual Board Meeting Slide Presentation http://www.visioning2026.com/NorthFork/2009AnnualBoardMtg.pdf
7. Weak signal on economic development and "new workforce" http://bit.ly/1ETRlo
8. Recreation is more than a field of dreams, facilities+hosting tournaments= economic development http://tinyurl.com/FieldsofDreams
9. Joining Forces, Community effort matches uses to needs http://tinyurl.com/JoiningForces
10. Helping students to ask good questions http://tinyurl.com/PowerofWhy -
Master Plan Summary Report for Task 1 & 2 Completed
Press Release Oct 16 2009NorthFork Riverwalk Development Project completed another significant milestone by releasing the HDR Engineering Inc. final report on Tasks 1 and 2 of the overall Master Plan effort. The NorthFork Riverwalk Development Project Phase I and II Summary electronic copy of the report (78 pages, 3.5 MB Adobe Acrobat format) can be downloaded from the following website address. http://www.Visioning2026.com/NorthFork/HDR/090731_NorthForkRiverwalk_FINALdeliverable_SMALLsize.pdf
