Flint River Trails Master Plan completed

ALBANY — Attorney Spencer Lee, who has been the primary guiding force behind what has become a decades-long passion project, summarized succinctly the Albany-Dougherty County Flint River Trail System Master Plan during a presentation at the Albany Visitors Center Tuesday.

“This is the jumping-off point,” Lee said as a group of city and county government leaders, as well as community stakeholders, gathered for a presentation on the master plan, prepared by Kaizen Collaborative of Tucker. “We’re through with the planning now. The next step is implementation.”

That, as those who follow the governmental process know, is the million-dollar issue. Or, in the case of the trail system that stretches across most of Dougherty County and into neighboring Lee and Terrell counties, the $26 million issue.

Kaizen, spearheaded by principal owner Greta deMayo, prepared a detailed description of the trail system, which includes the Flint River Trail and the Sasser Rail Trail, in the master plan.

The Sasser Trail, which will be built by the city of Albany as part of an agreement that gave the city railbed property on which it can expand utilities services, includes 13.6 miles of abandoned railroad line stretching from downtown Albany to Sasser. The Flint River Trail includes 21 miles of greenway trail from just south of Radium Springs to Chehaw park at Dougherty County’s northern boundary.

The Flint Trail will include 11 water access points and will encompass 600 acres of available land for mountain biking and equestrian trail opportunities.

“This master plan includes access points in the south, east, north and west, so citizens from all parts of our community will have the opportunity to utilize this trail system,” Albany Mayor Dorothy Hubbard said. “I cannot wait to see the impact it’s going to have on our community and on bringing people to our community.”

Dougherty County Commission Chairman Chris Cohilas said the city and county are united in providing the amenities that the trail system brings.

“Mayor Hubbard and I share a similar vision as it relates to the trail system and how it makes our community a destination location,” Cohilas said. “Given our assets, I think downtown has to be our focus as we look to move forward with the trail system. I believe you start with the hub and grow out.

“One of the things I like most about this master plan is that it will help us connect the east side and the west side of the (Flint) river and both Albany State University and Chehaw with downtown.”

DeMayo offered a presentation that touched on the highlights of the system master plan. She noted that both the city of Sasser and Lee County have applied for and received grant money that would allow those entities to move forward with trail head plans that are part of the master plan.

“I’d be disappointed if I didn’t see work start on those trail heads in 2017,” deMayo said after the meeting. “Since they have already been approved for grant money, there’s no reason they can’t move forward with those projects. I would think that both groups would work with the Albany/Dougherty County group to get these parts of the projects started.”

The trail master plan, which offers options for city and county leaders to consider, has significant access points planned at the Walmart on Ledo Road, on the Phoebe North and main campuses of Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital, and at both Tift Park and Riverfront Park in downtown Albany.

“This could be a game-changer for Albany-Dougherty County,” city/county Planning Services Director Paul Forgey, who has worked closely with Lee and deMayo on the Trail Master Plan, said. “This is the kind of amenity that will bring people here and will make people want to stay here.”

DeMayo encouraged the stakeholders to take the next required steps in bringing the trail system from the page to reality.

“These plans are not designed to sit on a shelf collecting dust,” she said. “I’d like to see you start work on these trails as soon as you can. I’d like to see the city and county take ownership of these documents and use them for writing grants that can help bring funding to the community.”

After the meeting, deMayo added, “I’m very confident this group will continue their efforts. City and county officials are very committed to the process, and there is already a movement in the community to pursue grants and to move things forward. Your community has been very engaged in this process from the beginning.”