The Dalles City Council voted on Monday night to authorize proceeding with the next phase of the First Street/Riverfront Connection project to complete plans, specifications, and estimates, restarting a project that was put on hold in 2015.  The portion that will be revived runs from Union Street to Laughlin Street, with the Council concurring with a Columbia Gateway Urban Renewal Agency not to proceed with an easterly expansion from Laughlin to Madison.  The Council also agreed with refining a proposed alignment for a Mill Creek Trail connection, and working with the Northern Wasco Parks and Recreation District on writing a letter of intent for an application to the state’s recreational trails grant program.  The City has over one-point-two million dollars in federal funding plus three-point-six million dollars from 2008 bond proceeds to use on the project.  If the City did not proceed, it would have to return the federal dollars plus reimburse 400-thousand dollars already spent on the project.