The Maplesville Town Council approved during a public hearing/special meeting Monday to file a pre-application form for an FY2014 Recreational Trails Program grant through the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs (ADECA).

The grant would be used on a project to improve Maplesville Community Park by adding a trail and bridge between the park’s two sections to connect them and by clearing some of the undergrowth near the park to create more room for visitor parking.

Mayor W.C. Hayes said the trail and bridge would allow visitors to walk or use non-motorized transportation such as a bicycle to travel between the park’s two sections without having to walk along Shanks Drive and risk being hit by a car.

“We want to prevent that from happening,” Hayes said.

The council discussed the grant at a regular meeting in May but did not vote on whether to send the pre-application.

Hayes said June 9 is the deadline for the town to file its pre-application for the grant, which would be roughly $66,000.

Hayes said the town would be notified July 10 if its pre-application is approved, and if so, a formal application would need to be filed.

Hayes was unsure exactly when the town would find out if it received the grant but said the announcement could come in September or October.

The grant is a 20-percent match, and the town and Maplesville PeeWee Athletics group each would be responsible for paying 10 percent of the total 20 percent due.

Hayes, council members Hal Harrison, Hilda Atchison and Richard Davis, and Town Clerk Dawn Smitherman were present at Monday’s meeting.

Harrison made a motion to file the pre-application for the grant, and Davis seconded the motion.

Harrison, Davis and Atchison voted in favor of filing the pre-application.

According to information on the pre-application form, the Recreational Trails Program (RTP) is a federal grant program authorized by Congress for the purpose of providing states, local governments and non-profit organizations with funds to acquire lands and develop or improve trail and trail-related resources.

The RTP funds are appropriated by Congress to the U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), and FHWA allocates the funds through state agencies as a grants program to sub-grantees.

Alabama’s allocation to sub-grantees in the 2014 funding cycle will be about $1,600,000.

For more information, go to www.adeca.alabama.gov.