Camden — The Camden-Rockport Pathways Committee celebrated the completion of the Seabright section of the Camden Riverwalk with a ribbon cutting ceremony on Saturday, held at Seabright park near Coastal Mountains Land Trust at 101 Mt. Battie Road.

Geoff Scott, chairman of the Camden-Rockport Pathways Committee, said that this marks the completion of Phase II, which is the next section of the Riverwalk being opened.

“Ultimately we will have almost 2.5 miles of Riverwalk,” said Scott. “This is the second section after the Tannery section. This section is about 1,000 feet long and we’ll do this in little sections and hopefully have from here to town.”

The sections have been funded by Recreational Trails Program grants, limited to $35,000. Scott said you can get about 1,000 feet of trail for that $35,000.

Scott said the first people to get involved in these trail sections are the land owners, who have to give the right of way for the trail to go through their property.

“In this case it was the Coastal Mountains Land Trust,” said Scott. “They owned a large section of the property we crossed. They were generous enough to provide what’s called a Trail License, so we had the surveys done and the rest of this section is across town land.”

Scott said after all is said and done, a package of completed paperwork is sent to the Maine Department of Transportation as a grant application that is a competitive grant, so sometimes the grant is awarded, and sometimes it is not.

Scott said ultimately they would like to see the trail end at Shirttail Point. That way kids could ride their bikes from town to the point without dealing with traffic.

“There are a number of destinations we are trying to put together,” said Scott. “Shirttail Point, Seabright Park, Megunticook Market, the Tannery Property, down to the middle school, the teen center and ultimately the town. It’s a way to get to places without being on the street and it’s kind of cool.”

Reach Chris Wolf at news@penbaypilot.com