Greenprints Partners With Company To Raise Money For Trails

Staff Report

Greenprints Alliance, a Woodstock-based nonprofit trail advocacy organization, has announced a 10-year foundation funding partnership with a company, which would help them move forward with their mission of providing multi-use trails throughout the city.

The organization has established a partnership with Premier Energy, a Woodstock-based company that provides steam technology and services.

The foundation funding will allow Greenprints to hire an executive director and begin marketing and soliciting public and private funding to help implement the award-winning Greenprints Master Plan.

Once complete, the plan would provide a network of multi-use trails, mountain bike paths, connections to public parks, alternative transit along more than 60 miles in and around Woodstock. It would also connect area neighborhoods and public parks.

“Across the nation, cities are promoting healthy lifestyles through public access to parks and trails, while also stimulating economic development,” said Premier Energy President and CEO Randy Davis. “The Greenprints Master Plan of trails is a great example of what can happen when public and private sectors work together. My business partner, Skip Noll, and I selected Woodstock as the international headquarters for our business and our homes because of the healthy, walkable lifestyle. We are thrilled to see this visionary project come to life. The completed trail segments are transforming Woodstock and connecting people with nature. Our foundation partnership will help build the structural organization needed to guide the completion of the Master Plan.”

Greenprints Master Plan trails that have been completed are:

-.5 mile Town to Creek Trail/Noonday Creek Trail multi-purpose trail segment

-Little River pedestrian bridge at Olde Rope Mill Park

-1/2 mile Trestle Rock multi-purpose trail segment at Olde Rope Mill Park

-10 miles at the Taylor Randahl Memorial Mountain Bike Trails

-1/8 mile mountain and hiking trail at Elm Street Cultural Arts Village

Greenprints trails funded and under construction are:

-2 mile Towne Lake Pass multi-purpose trail segment

-Pedestrian Bridge connecting Noonday Creek/Towne Lake Pass to Woofstock Park trailhead

-1 mile Dupree Park Family Mountain Biking Trail

-1/3 mile Dupree Park asphalt Community Health Trail

-1⁄4 mile asphalt Wellstar Community Health Trail at Woodstock Elementary School

-6 mile expansion at the Taylor Randahl Memorial Mountain Bike Trails

-3⁄4 mile Rubes Creek Trail multi-purpose trail segment

The completed trails along with upcoming funded trail segments will soon be home to outdoor recreational groups, trail programming, and community themed events festivals.

“Randy and Skip are among the early believers who want to help the Greenprints Master Plan of trails begin to transform Woodstock,” said Greenprints Alliance Board of Directors Chair David Potts. “This partnership will hopefully inspire other private corporate and individual donors, both new and returning, because while state and federal grants may be available, communities often struggle to come up with the required local match, and that is where our private sector partners, such as Premier Energy, can make the pivotal difference in making these trails happen.”

This Foundation Partnership joins previous funding totaling over $5.5 million, received from the Cherokee County Parks Bond, the city of Woodstock, WellStar Health System and numerous individual private donations, all to support the realization of the Greenprints Master Plan.