Al Foster Memorial Trailhead may be Improved

Wildwood city council members are considering allocating $39,000 to hire a consultant to develop and engineer drawings for improvements to the Al Foster Trailhead facilities at 319 Grand. The proposal will be on the council's April 8 agenda.

Some Wildwood officials said it is important to support this one-of-a-kind landscape and trail system along the Meramec River Greenway. Al Foster Trail was opened to public use in November 2003, however Wildwood representatives have been working on determining the needs of trail users over the past few years.

In 2011, for example, the process of surveying users and having the review of the city's Planning/Economic Development/Parks (PEP) Committee was initiated.

From that effort, PEP committee members decided a handful of elements would be the priorities:

1. permanent restroom facility
2. water fountain
3. additional parking spaces
4. large shade structure
5. picnic tables
6. trash receptacles
7. bicycle racks

After a public hearing held Nov. 5, 2012, city officials opted to eliminate the permanent restroom and water fountain from plans, due to concerns about placing these type of improvements in the floodplain areas and the effect they would have on the environment.

Instead, they recommended the use of a waste-collecting vault restroom, similar to the facility used in the Glencoe City Park in Wildwood.

Joe Vujnich, Wildwood director of planning and parks, said the targeted consultancy firm for this project, Terrespec, has been an integral part of many successful projects the city has undertaken in that area.

RELATED:

Improvements Coming to Al Foster Trail

Al Foster Memorial Trailhead Users Surveyed