Albany-Dougherty County stakeholders discuss trail master plan

ALBANY — Eager to build on the momentum of the Dougherty County Commission’s approval of a $58,000 bid proposal to develop a Greenway and Recreation Trails Master Plan on Monday, County Attorney Spencer Lee convened a panel of trail stakeholders Thursday to discuss specifics of that plan.

Representatives of the county; the city of Albany; the Convention & Visitors Bureau; Albany State University; downtown Albany attractions the Thronateeska Heritage Center and Flint RiverQuarium; the local Audubon Society, and both mountain bike and trail bicycle groups met at the Bridge House Welcome Center to discuss the proposed trail system with representatives of Kaizen Collaborative, an Atlanta-based consulting firm that was awarded the master plan contract.

“What we want to do is take the master plan through completion to the next step, which is to see some immediate implementation,” Kaizen Principal Owner Greta deMayo said. “When the public is excited, that’s a good time to pick some of the low-hanging fruit to keep the momentum going.”

Lee gave deMayo and Kaizen Urban Designer John Simmons a tour of some of the trails in the county’s system, taking the consultants to Chehaw Park, to property owned by Georgia Power and to Radium Springs Garden before meeting with stakeholders at the Bridge House.

“There’s a lot happening, but none of it is really coordinated,” Lee said after discussing the various trails in the county with stakeholders. “What Greta and her group hope to do is come up with a master plan to connect our trails into a unified system. The idea for this meeting is to bring stakeholders for all of these projects together to talk about things important to the master plan.”

Albany State University’s Cliff Porter, executive assistant to ASU President Art Dunning, said the university hopes elements of the trail master plan provide “connectivity” with downtown Albany.

“At some point in the next 10 years, we plan to vacate 80 to 90 percent of the buildings on our lower campus (which is located alongside the Flint River),” Porter said. “We want to turn that into greenspace, and we’ve thought about outdoor classrooms or even athletic uses that would tie into the master plan.

“Our primary goal is to increase connectivity to the community physically — with a pedestrian bridge that has been discussed — psychologically, socially … any way we can.”

City/county Planning Services Director Paul Forgey said a connected trail system would be a substantial quality-of-life opportunity for the community.

“This could be a game-changer for Albany and Dougherty County,” Forgey said. “This could be an amenity to bring new people into town.”

Forgey said one idea that’s being discussed that would also enhance the downtown connectivity component of a trail master plan is creation of a new two-lane road (dubbed Riverside Drive) from Oakridge Drive to Oglethorpe Boulevard that would include a dedicated bike path.

Downtown Manager Latoya Cutts said a trail system that essentially runs from Chehaw Park, through the city, through Albany State’s campus and through Radium Springs to the south would enhance the city’s efforts to renovate its downtown.

“Having an entertainment/activity option already in place would encourage people to move downtown,” she said. “That’s a key component of our downtown redevelopment plan.”

Kaizen’s master plan proposal includes an evaluation of the city and county’s existing trails, a feasibility study of existing trail projects, identification of trail routing options to connect into a countywide system, establishment of branding and amenity designs, and facilitation of local participation.

Possible trail linkage elements include Cox Landing to Chehaw Park, Rails-to-Trails to Riverfront Trail, Riverfront Trail to Radium Springs, additional mountain bike trails on the west side of the river, kayak/canoe landings, additional trails on the east side of the Flint, the Lake Worth dam, Flint bridge crossings, connecting Albany State to the west side of the Fint and a new trailhead on the Kinchafoonee Creek.