A person walks a dog Aug. 29 along Quarry Road between the yurt and the maintenance building in Waterville. Plans call for paving the section of road between the two buildings.  Rich Abrahamson/Morning Sentinel

WATERVILLE — Work scheduled to begin next year on infrastructure improvements at Quarry Road Recreation Area got a boost this week from the City Council, which approved accepting a $712,500 matching grant from the Harold Alfond Foundation to help fund the project.

The work will include paving part of the dirt road leading to the welcome center, improving parking and making changes to the wet meadow area so it may be used year-round.

The city owns and operates the recreation area and Friends of Quarry Road, a nonprofit organization that helps raise money for the recreation area, applied for and was awarded the grant. The Friends’ goal is to benefit the greater Waterville area by developing four-season outdoor recreation opportunities.

City councilors Tuesday took a final, 5-0 vote to accept the $712,500 Alfond grant to match a Northern Border Regional Commission/United States Department of Agriculture grant of the same amount. Councilors took an initial vote Oct. 1 to accept the Alfond grant.

The council Tuesday also voted to authorize City Manager Bryan Kaenrath to enter into a memorandum of understanding between the Friends and the city regarding the first phase of infrastructure improvements. Kaenrath said City Solicitor William A. Lee III worked on crafting the document with Jennifer Kierstead, executive director of the Friends group, and gave it his stamp of approval.

Kierstead, who applied for the grant, said the memorandum was a condition of approval for the grant agreement between the city, the Friends and Harold Alfond Foundation.

She said everyone wants the project managed in a way that is consistent with public and private terms and conditions set forth by the Alfond Foundation and the federal government.

“The grant agreement requires that the project be managed by the city,” she said. “That is perfectly acceptable to the Friends and we are working out the details of that in the MOU. So, there will be a dedicated account set up by the Friends for this project so that all of us can keep these funds straight.”

She said the city’s finance director, Christina Therrien, also is setting up a dedicated “accounting account.”

“So this will be the most well-documented project, I think, for both the Friends and maybe the city, in terms of what’s happening at Quarry Road,” she said.

“Excellent,” Mayor Mike Morris said.

The council voted Aug. 20 to commit up to $80,000 in matching funds for the federal Northern Border Regional Commission grant awarded to Friends of Quarry Road in December 2023. The city’s match includes $20,000 from a 2021 recreation bond, $15,000 from the Quarry Road surplus revenue fund and up to $45,000 in in-kind engineering, with project oversight from City Engineer Andrew McPherson.

Improvements to be made include paving about 1,500 feet of the dirt road, from Quarry Road’s maintenance building lot to the welcome center, which is a yurt. The area around the welcome center also will be paved.

The meadow lot used for Nordic skiing west of the welcome center has poor drainage and is very wet, prohibiting year-round use, according to Waterville Director of Parks and Recreation Matt Skehan. The meadow will be expanded using pervious pavers, which are placed slightly under grade with soil on top. Overall meadow drainage will be improved to provide for year-round use and the parking area around the welcome center will be expanded.

Skehan said recently that Quarry Road wants to host events in February and March — large-scale Nordic ski events that draw hundreds of athletes and families.

The Friends group is nearing a goal of raising $1.67 million needed to complete the project over the next two years, according to a memo included with the council agenda. Funds include $15,000 to complete a federal National Environmental Policy Act Environmental Assessment and $78,115 for a permitting fee assessed by the Army Corps of Engineers and Maine Department of Environmental Protection.

Skehan said recently that the city engineer will put out requests for construction proposals this winter. Bids would be opened in late winter or early spring and most likely construction would start next summer.

Quarry Road is a year-round outdoor recreation area for people of all ages and abilities, located off North Street, about two miles from downtown. Its trails and open spaces offer cross-country and downhill skiing, snowboarding, snowshoeing, biking, hiking, walking, running, disc golf and paddling in Messalonskee Stream.

The area has about eight miles of groomed Nordic ski trails and five miles of single-track for snowshoeing, mountain biking and hiking. The snowmaking system allows for an early start to the ski season and produces reliable snow conditions all winter, according to officials.

Council Chairwoman Rebecca Green, D-Ward 4, and Councilor Flavia DeBrito, D-Ward 2, were absent from Tuesday’s meeting; thus there were only five councilors voting.