Last week it looked as if a decision regarding the Olympic Discovery Trail’s “missing link,” a proposed pathway connecting the city’s water reuse park and West Hendrickson Road, finally would be made. The city’s parks board recommended that the city council approve a plan to connect the trail by way of Spruce Street and the council planned to vote on it at its June 23 meeting.

The proposed route would go from the corner of West Hendrickson Road and Sequim Avenue, north on Sequim Avenue to Fir Street, where a stoplight is proposed for 2010. The trail would go east on Fir Street for one block, turn south onto Sunnyside Avenue and east onto Spruce Street until reaching its destination, the park.

The parks board recommended the Spruce Street route because it was the most cost-efficient. It bordered the smallest amount of privately-owned property and would require the fewest easement purchases.

“We’d really like to take it off our plate,” Mayor Laura Dubois said during the June 23 meeting.

A number of Spruce Street residents who attended the meeting, however, said that they had never been contacted and read about the recommendation in the local newspapers. According to city staff, there was no notification sent to people along the recommended route.

“No one has ever said anything to us,” Spruce Street resident Dennis Grantson said. “You can’t run it through a private neighborhood without stepping on people’s toes.”

The council decided that rather than move forward on a vote, they would wait until a later date. During that time all Spruce Street and Fir Street residents would be notified and visuals would be provided.