Leisure Services Reveals Plans for Greenway Extensions in Athens, Ga.

Athens residents may have the opportunity to vote to fund future extensions to the Athens Greenway, which would create trails across most of the inner city and the Westside.

Earlier this week, Leisure Services showcased plans for future developments for the Greenway, revealing more than 20 miles of plotted trails that connect west, east, north and downtown Athens. The plans also include trails that would run through the middle of the main trails, making it easier for people to get to their destination without having to travel around the entire city.

Department officials also showcased plans for the next part of the trail to be completed — a pathway running between downtown and Research Drive, making it easier for students to commute between the Eastside and campus.

Greenway Coordinator Mel Cochran said citizens have to approve these plans through a future SPLOST vote. The mayor and commission would also have to approve revisions to latest plans before those sections could be built, which means that it may be several years before Leisure Services begins construction on newly drafted sections.

"The mayor and commission just approved the concept for this design," Cochran said. "What happens with the SPLOST project, citizens will approve a list of projects. The SPLOST staff will go out, talk to consultants, get bids, and then they'lll come back, get approval from the mayor and commission, draw the preliminary designs, go back again. It starts that way, but it's broken down project by project."

Cochran said it's normal for such plans to take a few years. The Research Drive trail was approved and funded through SPLOST money collected in 2005. Construction on those trails will most likely not begin until 2013 or 2014. 

"We begin with federal money and then that money trickles down to the state, to the [Georgia Department of Transportation,]" Cochran said. "They have a whole lot of processes they have to go through. So we're having to go through their process before we can get to our process. There's a flowchart that's about 21 pages long that says this process can take up to seven years to complete."

Cochran said so far most people's response to the new plans had been positive--except for one misconception. Residents who own property near the planned trails were invited to attend Monday. They said they were concerned that the Athens-Clarke County government would run trails through people's backyards.

"They see these maps and they say, 'You're putting this in my backyard,' and we say 'Wait, there are different zones, you don't know what these colors mean,'" Cochran said. "We don't take property from other people. Everything we've gotten has been from people selling property or through an easement, but if they don't want it, we're not going to force it."

Cochran said that if citizens have questions or concerns about future developments, they are welcome to contact the Oconee Rivers Greenway Commission.

"We're just trying to get this in a way that we have support from the community, and that makes sense, and that we're not going to put stuff across people's back decks," Cochran said. "It's for the community. We're trying to do this in a really friendly and helpful way."