Design plans for a restored riparian corridor and a multiuse recreation trail along the Santa Fe River are a few weeks from becoming reality.

The targeted stretch from Camino Alire to Frenchy's Park are part of a bigger vision to have a native tree-lined recreational trail stretching from Upper Canyon Road below the Santa Fe Municipal Watershed west to N.M. 599. The Santa Fe River Trail would provide hikers, runners, bicyclists and in-line skaters an east-west route through the heart of the city.

A design team expects to finish plans for restoration work by the end of this month. It hopes to finish the final design and route of the proposed trail in March.

At one time, the Santa Fe River meandered, flooded and flowed the way most rivers do: anyway it wanted.

The City Different grew up along the river, the flows dropped, and the riverbanks became increasingly restrained between city streets and homes.

The city and county now are working together with engineers, river restoration specialists and designers on plans to restore the river's meandering nature using natural rock structures and removing some old concrete barriers that split the river flows.

Bob Obendorfer, project manager for Resource Technology Inc., the primary design team, said both the city and county recognized river restoration needed to go hand in hand with trail design.

"This has been master-planned to death over the years," Obendorfer said. "We have a stack of old plans a foot high. This time, the city and county recognized the river restoration and trail needed to be done together."

Preliminary plans call for the construction of two to three bridges across the river along the stretch. The design team also is negotiating with about 24 property owners on possible easements needed for the river restoration and the trail.

The Bicycle and Trails Advisory Committee asked trail designers to make a main paved path 10 feet wide where topography allows and add an additional, parallel 4-foot-wide dirt path. The design team is considering six types of paving material.

Designers want to give the river a 100-foot-wide flood plain with a 45-foot-wide riverbed instead of a braided set of flows that join, split and rejoin repeatedly.

The designers have worked on several options for how the river might meander and where a recreation trail could go.

"Something all these plans have is more flood plain connectivity to the river," said Rachel Friedman, the city's river and watershed coordinator. In some areas, the riverbed is far below the top of the riverbank and the flood plain. Vegetation and tree roots can't reach the water in those spots, Friedman said.

Property owners near the river have expressed concern over a public trail running near their homes.

"They're willing to work with us on river restoration because they see it benefits them. They're more concerned with the trail aspect, the idea of strangers going near their property." said Rich Schrader, director of River Source, a small, family-owned Santa Fe company and a sponsored project of the New Mexico Community Foundation. Nonprofits such as the New Mexico Community Foundation and Bosque School in Albuquerque act as fiscal sponsors of grants provided to River Source to do work on river restoration and river education..

The designers want the trail to drop below the line of sight from nearby homes, giving both trail users and homeowners privacy.

Schrader said there's also "a pretty good body of evidence" that public trails actually lead to less crime and property damage in an area. "There's more pairs of eyes watching," he said.

The Public Works Committee recently approved an additional $285,000 for the Resource Technology contract, bringing the total to $399,000 for the river-trail project, according to Rachel Friedman, the city's river and watershed coordinator. The city and Santa Fe County are splitting the contract cost. The committee also approved $200,000 in city funds for Youth Works!, which last year paid crews for cleaning up the river and building erosion-control structures.

Contact Staci Matlock at 470-9843 or smatlock@sfnewmexican.com.

HOW TO GET INVOLVED

Two events are planned to discuss plans for restoring the Santa Fe River and creating a trail from Camino Alire to Frenchy's Park. Coffee with Mayor David Coss will take place at 9 a.m. Wednesday at City Hall to discuss plans, and Love Your River Day will be held from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday at Frenchy's Park.