By JAMES LAKE, Journal Staff Writer

MARQUETTE - The Presque Isle Park Advisory Committee is finalizing its plans for the first section of a new pedestrian pathway around the park.

The committee is scheduled to discuss the pathway in special session at 7 tonight in the Citizens Forum at Lakeview Arena.

Marquette Parks and Recreation Director Hugh Leslie, who acts as staff liaison to the committee, said the pathway has been in the planning stage for about six years. The intent is to eventually ring the park with a handicap-accessible pathway.

Leslie said the path would serve two purposes: to separate pedestrian traffic on the island from bicycles and motor vehicles and to stop erosion and damage from pedestrians walking on undesignated trails.

Tonight's meeting will be to discuss the path's composition. Leslie said the options include a loose granite gravel or a gravel with a binding polymer whose consistency is similar to asphalt.

The committee has been raising funds for the project, and so far has about $5,000 set aside.

The pathway would have to be constructed in phases, with the first section stretching from the Presque Isle Park pavilion on the island's west side to just past the band shell near the park entrance.

The committee intends to have the first section built this summer, Leslie said.

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