Residents of a large Flowery Branch community said Tuesday they will not give up the fight change a portion of the Highlands to Islands Multi-Use Trail that impacts their area.
Dozens of members of Concerned Residents of Sterling, who are part of the Sterling on the Lake residential community, attended Tuesday morning's meeting of the Gainesville-Hall Metropolitan Planning Organization (GHMPO) Policy Committee to ask committee members to table the South Hall Trail Study.
The group said it has also presented a 500-signature petition with the same request to all three governing committees of the GHMPO. The GHMPO Citizens Advisory Committee recommended the study be tabled for further study. The GHMPO Technical Coordinating Committee approved the study at its last meeting.
The study in question suggests Bragg Road, a road abandoned in 2011 by the city of Flowery Branch, be rehabilitated as part of the South Hall County portion of the trail. Bragg Road runs behind a section of Sterling on the Lake and residents contend the added traffic on the trail would be a detriment to the community, specifically citing safety concerns.
The Policy Committee voted 4-1 to approve the South Hall Trail Study with one change. The Blackjack Road Trailhead, which had proposed parking for as many as 15 vehicles, was eliminated from the study.
Richard Higgins, representing Hall County Government, cast the dissenting vote, saying County Commissioner Kathy Cooper had also asked the study be tabled.
Matt Horton, who lives on Blackjack Road across from the Sterling community, said after the meeting he understands his neighbors' concerns about Bragg Road and hopes that as the study progresses, officials will choose a different path for that portion of the trail.
"We think there are other alternatives to the Bragg Road Trailhead - there's other ways to connect to Cherokee Bluffs Park," Horton said.
GHMPO Director Srikanth Yamala said the South Hall Trail Study is what he called a "30,000-foot zoom out" of that portion of the trail system.
"It's a planning study," Yamala said. "This study would eventually complete the entire Highlands to Islands network all the way beginning in Gainesville - the Midtown - going all the way to Chicopee and going all the way to Friendship Road."
Yamala said it would be five to 10 years before the southern portion of the trail would become reality.
With that in mind, he said there's plenty of opportunity for concerned citizens to give input, and he said he encourages residents to continue communication with elected officials.
